Lasting Memory
by Lonikje
Summary: AU: Ron is an auror for 4 years now, and he's the best of his department. He gets assigned to a witness protection program, where he needs to protect miss Hermione Granger, a muggle girl who witnessed a magical crime. Ron is not very pleased with this mission, but learns quickly that it's not as easy or boring as it may have seemed in the beginning. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Author's note: Please remember that English is not my first language and I don't have a Beta. So try to look over grammar faults, or let me know if I did make a huge mistake.**

 **This is a Romione story in AU, in Ron's POV.**

 **Harry still defeated Voldemort with the help of Ron and Ginny. I try to remain canon where it's possible.**

 **I really love to read AU stories about them. I didn't find anything new to read so I decided to write my own. Hope you guys like it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter world or anything from the hands of J.K. Rowling.**

After the war, Kingsley was appointed as the new Minister of Magic and he immediately wrote to both Harry and Ron to ask them if they wanted to join the Auror Department. They accepted the offer and went to Auror Academy instead of back to Hogwarts, and they both excelled in all subjects. Not that anyone would dare to expect otherwise after what they did in the battle of Hogwarts.

It didn't take long before Ron proved himself to be an excellent auror, even better than Harry. Harry was good in his own way, but he was a bit too empathetically with his suspects and he kept struggling with his guilt for everything that had happened during the war and the aftermath. So after two years he decided to return to Hogwarts as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, to much delight of Headmistress McGonagall and Ginny.

Ron was an auror for four years now and he was the best of the entire department, bringing all his cases to a good end. There were rumours that he was going to be the next Head Auror, but Ron didn't want to be stuck behind a desk. At least not yet.

He loved to be outside, where the action was. To shadow someone, until he found something for the trial, or to plan something so he could capture multiple suspects in one intervention. He woke with his job and he went back to sleep with it. He didn't have a girlfriend or a family that would await him at home.

He lived with Harry and Ginny in Grimmauld Place, after Harry and Kreacher had it completely renovated.

At first, they lived there alone, because Ginny needed to complete her 7th year at Hogwarts. But after she graduated – and after they could persuade Molly – Ginny moved in with them.

Ron didn't need to see all the snogging and stuff, so he worked late and apparated straight to his room most of the time, to avoid the two lovebirds.

When he woke up this morning, he already felt off. It wasn't going to be his day, Harry and Ginny were on their honeymoon and he was all by himself in Grimmauld Place. He couldn't stand the silence. Kreacher was staying at Hogwarts, to help the other house elves in the kitchens. Ron was fine with it, he was at work most of the time and went to dinner at the Burrow whenever he could so he wouldn't starve. But he missed the conversations or just someone to talk to. Sure, he could drop in at the Burrow or Shell Cottage to talk to his parents or his brothers Bill or George, or even Percy, but they all had their own families to worry about and the Burrow was overflowing with children these days. It was all getting a bit too loud for him and it wasn't pleasant to be reminded of the fact that he was the only one left that wasn't married or had a girlfriend.

Sure, he got enough attention from the birds when he went out to the Leaky for some drinks. He was the best friend of Harry Potter after all. And that's what bothered him every single time, he could never be sure that they fancied him, Ron Weasley, and not with the thought of being with him, Ron Weasley, the best friend of Harry Potter. So every time a girl started to talk with him or showed even the slightest hint of interest, he emptied his butterbeer and excused himself. After all these years, he still felt insecure. How could he live up against the Chosen One? He was just his sidekick, wasn't he?

That's why he loved his job so much. There he was auror Ron Weasley, he did that all by himself. No Chosen One, no family to live up to. And he was bloody proud of it.

He went downstairs to make himself some breakfast, dropped his entire plate of eggs and bacon on the floor, made a second breakfast, ate it while ignoring today's edition of The Daily Prophet – it didn't contain anything worth reading – and took the Floo to work in a worse mood than when he woke up.

The minute he arrived in his office he noticed there was something off. His fellow aurors who were not out on a mission were trying real hard to avoid him. He got glares, but no "Good morning Weasley." He checked if he managed to put on some clothes this morning, felt relieved when he saw he did, but got no wiser than before that.

"Weasley!" yelled Head Auror Jollins from his office. "Mission briefing immediately!"

Ron looked towards the Head Auror's office and frowned. Why would they wait for his arrival to brief him for an oncoming mission? Most of the time they send a patronus or gave him a Floo call. That was part of being an auror, you never knew when your day would end, nor when he would start to begin with.

He noticed that his colleagues were a little jumpy today, all seeming very busy with whatever they were doing, but also keeping an eye on his every move. He had the reputation to be tense and hot-tempered, especially when he got a mission that wasn't his first choice, or when he was stuck in an investigation.

Since he wasn't on a mission right now, he guessed he was assigned to one he was not going to like.

He sat down and looked at Jollins. "What's the assignment, sir?"

"Weasley, I'm going to be honest with you. You're the best we've got. But you already know that, right?" said Jollins.

Ron was surprised. It was not Jollins' habit to do small talk, most of the time he was straight to the point. He felt less comfortable by the minute.

"Thank you, sir. Appreciate the acknowledgement of my actions. But that's not why I'm here, am I?" Ron sat a bit straighter into his seat. He could take it. Any assignment or mission would be a perfect distraction of the empty house, maybe if he was lucky it would take long enough to wrap it up for Harry and Ginny to come back from Greece. Then he could concentrate on his mission instead of the deafening silence of Grimmauld Place.

Jollins cleared his throat and went on. "No, you're right. As usual. Did you hear about Olson's case? The attack on the Virelli family?"

Ron nodded. Of course he heard about that one. A couple of days ago there was a brutal attack on the Virelli's, all murdered, some of them even tortured. No one survived, and no one knew why it had happened. There wasn't even a clue on who had done it. Except for the fact that he or she was magical, but Ron guessed it was not the work of a single witch or wizard. The Virelli family was half-blood, had no bad reputation or known connections with any death eaters. Nothing suspicious about them. So Olson didn't know what to do. He'd come to Ron and ask for advice. With no witnesses or any evidence, there wasn't much to work with. Ron had told him about his presumption that this could be the work of multiple wizards or witches, maybe even death eaters. Not that there were many of them left. Not after those months after the battle where Harry and Ron and many other aurors hunted most of them down. But they could never be sure that they were all gone.

"Yeah, I know that case. Though one." He shrugged.

"Not exactly. They found a witness." Jollins took out some papers and handed them to Ron. Inside were a couple of muggle photos – they didn't move, Ron noticed – of a girl with bushy brown hair, brown eyes and pale skin. There was something about the girl, Ron thought. But he couldn't say what exactly.

"A witness would help the case tremendously. That's fantastic, but what has that to do with me? Do you want me to take things over? Olson is a great auror, he can handle it." Ron said.

"No, Olson will stay assigned to the murder case. But the witness, miss Hermione Granger needs to be protected. When Olson's team found out about her, they noticed her house was jinxed. It would inform whoever cast the spell when she was home. Never a good sign, that is. So we took her in. She's in one of the interrogation rooms down the hall. But she can't stay here of course. Did I tell you she's a muggle?" Jollins pointed towards her photo.

Ron gasped. "Muggle? And you brought her here? Why didn't they obliviate her after they took her statement? That's the normal procedure."

"It's not that simple, Weasley. She's in quite a shock actually. Not surprising if you consider what she saw the last couple of hours. We know she witnessed it all, but she won't tell anything. We already let a healer and a mind healer from St Mungos with her, and they think she suffers from a temporary memory loss due to the shock. We can extract the memories, but we don't have the guarantee that they will be accurate. We really need her statement about this. The Wizengamot wouldn't accept otherwise." Jollins sighed and took in a deep breath. "We want you to accompany her back to her house and stay with her until she gets her memory back. Your mission is a witness protection case."

Ron couldn't believe what he just heard. Those were cases that usually were given to Junior Aurors and even then, they would switch between two or three aurors to take turns. Protection programs were boring, witnesses were demanding lots of attention and those missions easily took a couple of weeks, even months to finish.

"Did I do something wrong, sir?" Ron asked. There's got to be a reason why he was punished. He grimaced, remembering how he felt off this morning and dropped his breakfast. He should've just stayed in bed today.

"Weasley! There is nothing wrong with witness protection assignments!" Jollins bellowed. "This is going to take a long time, I'm well aware of that. I'm also aware that miss Granger is quite attractive, to be frank. And there's the problem." He continued.

Ron frowned. Jollins was right, the girl was pretty in her own way, but pretty girls were mostly not that bright or were just plain mean. He remembered that well enough from his days at Hogwarts. So he didn't see the problem. He told Jollins that.

"Of course not. You don't have a girlfriend or a wife! Don't you think I didn't ask someone else first? What if you had a girlfriend, how would she react if she found out you spent lots of time alone with such a pretty girl? I know you're not supposed to talk about ongoing cases at home, but they still know afterwards. You of all people should know that." Jollins waved his hand towards him. Ron stood up so he could walk around the office. Of course he knew that. He witnessed Ginny's outburst when she found out Harry spend a whole week with that girl Sophie Hampton, who got assaulted. Harry was supposed to watch her during her stay in the ministry, while the trial was up in the Wizengamot, when Ginny dropped by in the office to ask Ron if he was free for lunch. Harry made the mistake to take his break at that exact moment, and needed to explain himself why he was in the Auror Office instead of out on a mission. When he tried to explain he was currently on a mission, Sophie called for him. Ron didn't dare to return home to Grimmauld Place afterwards, until he heard from Harry again. It wasn't pretty.

"But still, you can't tell me there isn't a single Junior Auror that isn't available to do this? What about Ilkins or Rogers?" Ron tried, while he went through his hair with his hand.

"No, Weasley. We don't want a Junior Auror to take this one. It's too risky. Her house was already jinxed after a couple of hours so we expect more actions. We need someone with more experience. And you're the best one, as I already told you."

"But why at her house? Why not here, she's already here? Or in one of our safe houses?" Heck, she could even stay with him in Grimmauld Place. Harry wouldn't mind. Ginny was another story, but he could talk to her.

"No, the healers think she would be best at her own place. In a well-known environment. Maybe her memory will come back faster. That's the whole purpose of this mission, you still know that, right? She needs to restore her memory so she can give her statements in the investigation. The Virelli family was well known, Weasley. We could not afford to cover this up. You go and take her home, seal the house, you know the drill. Try to narrow the magic though, she's still a muggle. She does know of our existence, but it's temporary. She'll be obliviated as soon the trial's over. Here's her file, she's down in room 3. You know what to do." Jollins handed the file with the photo's to Ron.

Ron took it with a heavy sigh. He turned and closed the door to Jollins' office with more force than necessary.

He searched for Olson with his eyes, but noticed that his desk was empty. Lucky bastard, he thought.

He turned around and left the office, on his way to investigation room number three, where miss Granger would wait for his arrival.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **AN 1: I want to thank everyone who took the time to review my first chapter, followed or favorited it, or simply read it 'till the end. I was quite insecure about myself (figures), didn't think my English was good enough, and kept procrastinating.**

 **So it keeps me going, I guess.**

 **AN 2: When I first started this story, I had a pretty good idea where I was heading to. Now I'm not so sure** **J** **While I'm writing, I keep getting other ideas for storylines, but then I have to adjust this chapter again. So I waited longer than I needed to, to post this 2** **nd** **chapter. I know I said that this story was going to be in Ron's POV, but I decided to write this one chapter in Hermione's, to clear some things up.**

 **If characters react differently than in the books/movies, remember this is an AU!**

 **So let's see where this all takes us, shall we?**

Hermione Granger had enough. She was sitting in this dull chamber for over an hour, all by herself. She didn't know what she was doing here, how she got here in the first place. It was all a complete void inside her head.

For the last hour she'd tried to remember what had happened to her. Nothing… She hated to be left out, especially when it came to her own mind. Hermione usually knew everything, and what she didn't know, she looked up in books or the internet.

The last thing she remembered was being found by people who called themselves "aurors" but were clearly just undercover police officers. She didn't even know the place where she was found, or she thought she didn't. She wasn't sure what she thought anymore. Was she kidnapped and drugged? That could explain her sloppy memory.

After an hour, that was the only plausible explanation that she could think of. She had been drugged and kidnapped, but she was found, maybe even rescued by the police. And now she was in the police station so they could take her testimony.

But she was very disappointed in the way they treated her. After all, if she was indeed just saved from her kidnapper, they shouldn't let her alone for more than an hour! Wouldn't they let her be examined by a physician? There were two men who she thought at first were doctors, but they didn't perform any medical examinations.

Wouldn't they call someone? That is if they knew who she was, they didn't even ask her that kind of information. At least that was something she could remember.

She was just about to open the door and check if there was someone in the hallway who could give her some information or even just a glass of water, as the door opened and someone entered.

Hermione looked at the young man who took a seat in front of her. He was about her age, she guessed, flaming red hair and blue eyes. They send an intern to take her statement?

"Hermione Granger?" asked the young man. He looked at her and she was bewildered. She noticed his face was covered in freckles which gave him a very friendly appearance, but he tried to compose a stern look. She was caught off guard by his eyes, those blue eyes looked like they saw right through her.

That's ridiculous, she thought. You sound just like a teenage girl with her first puppy love. Get a hold of yourself, Granger.

She swallowed and found her voice. "That is correct. And you are?"

He smirked. "I'm Auror Weasley. Ron Weasley. I want to ask you a few questions, if I may?"

Auror? There was that word again. She never heard it before today. Maybe it was a special force unit within the police department? Specialized in missing persons, abductions, that sort of thing?

She noticed he was looking at her expectantly. He really asked for her permission?

"Yes, of course. But can I ask something first?" He nodded. "What exactly is an auror? Are you a specific kind of special agent perhaps?"

She noticed that this question made him uneasy. He shuffled in his seat, and rubbed his hand over the back of his head. An odd reaction.

"Aurors are wizards who are trained to investigate crimes related to Dark Magic." Ron answered and awaited her reaction. Hermione laughed.

"Good one," she said. "Alright, I understand. It's classified. I promise I won't ask it again."

He smiled. "I want to ask you something about the crime you witnessed. Could you describe what you saw?"

To her surprise he pulled out a piece of parchment and… it can't be… a quill?

"Is this supposed to be funny?" She burst. "I don't see why you can't take my situation seriously. I never asked to be brought here! Your people found me, took me here, you let me wait for more than an hour without even something to drink or an explanation and then you think it would be appropriate to just… _mock_ me?" She pointed towards the quill.

His face changed just a second. She thought she saw surprise, but he quickly got a grip of himself and got his stern look back. He waved his hand and the parchment and quill were gone.

"I'm sorry, I keep forgetting you don't know anything about our world. But we'll get to that, I promise. Could you please try and ignore what just happened and tell me what you were doing in the gardens of the Virelli Mansion?"

"I'm sorry, where?" Hermione stuttered. Where did the quill and parchment go? She must still be under the influences from the drugs they gave her. She could've sworn that he just vanished them…

"Hermione, what _can_ you remember? Do you remember how you got there?"

Hermione looked at Ron. She saw something again in those eyes… was he really concerned about her? No, she convinced herself, it was just one of those methods police officers used to comfort victims.

She quickly shifted through her memories but she couldn't find anything regarding her abduction. She wasn't even sure she was abducted in the first place.

"I… I don't remember anything…" she gave in. "I remember this room, I remember you coming in… I remember my name."

"And before you were brought here?" Ron asked, leaning a bit forward.

"I don't know… what happened to me?" Was it hot in here? Hermione opened her shirt a bit.

"That's what we're trying to find out. We're only trying to help you, I promise you. When you were found, you said some things that made the aurors think you witnessed the crime that took place inside the mansion. Those two men that came to visit you earlier, were healers. You would call them… doctors? They think you suffer from a temporary memory loss due to the amount of stress or trauma you experienced." Ron sat back in his seat.

"We're… _I_ am going to try and bring your memory back. I'm afraid you are the only lead we have in this crime scene."

Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. She didn't feel well, her head started to hurt. She decided to be as honest as she could, as long as she could get out of here.

"I do remember things. I remember that I love books, that I'm allergic to horses. I remember my name and that I really love chicken pies. I like to know things… But I can't remember where I live, where I work… I can't remember where I was, who my family is. I really don't know…"

She began to breathe faster. Was it this hot in here before? Her hands were sweaty and they started to tremble. She entwined her fingers to conceal it.

"Hermione, are you all right?" Ron asked worried.

Why would he be worried, she thought. He doesn't know me. I'm all right… am I?

"I'm fine… I just need some air… too hot…" She breathed. I need to get out of here, some fresh air. What was wrong with her? The drugs… ?

She pushed her chair back and tried to get up, but noticed her knees failed to support her body. Her vision started to blur and the last thing she saw before all went black was a startled Ron rushing towards her, catching her just before her head would touch the ground.

 **AN: Well… that was different. I plan to change between POV depending on what part of the story needs to be told. I hope I made it obvious that the way Ron and Hermione both think are completely opposite. Ron's way of thinking is more straight forward, more 'masculin' you could say (no surprise there), while Hermione's thoughts are more logical, considering all things.**

 **To be honest, I'm not that content with how this one turned out, I find it easier to write from Ron's POV… So I will return to look through his eyes in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **AN: Thanks again for the wonderful reviews.**

 **I'll try and update every week or so. Third chapter already!**

 **I do not own anything from the hand of J.K. Rowling.**

 _Ron's POV_

Ron arrived at investigation room number three. He sighed, opened the file he got from Jollins and looked at the photos of Hermione.

Out of all the protection programs he had to do the past couple of years, maybe this wasn't going to be as boring as he'd expected. Miss Granger was pretty, as Jollins stated earlier, but he still needed to know what she was like for company.

There's only one way to find out, he thought and he opened the door. Hermione startled as he entered and sat up straight. Ron went to sit in the chair on the other side of the table, as he would do if this was an interrogation. But this isn't an interrogation, he reminded himself. Be kind, understanding.

"Hermione Granger?" Ron asked. He knew that it was her, but he wanted to know how she reacted. Jollins said she was still in shock so he needed to be cautious. He didn't want her to break down, or in the worst case got aggressive. He smiled, as if such a fragile petite woman could overpower him.

He didn't get an immediate response. It gave him the opportunity to really look at her. She looked nothing like the pictures he got. Sure, the frizzy bundle of hair was still present, as were her chocolate brown eyes. But they didn't look quite alive as they did on the photo, rather dull to be honest. She also looked very pale, which made him worry about her health. Was she feeling well? Her file didn't mention any health issues, except for the light shock and the memory loss. But on the other hand, they didn't know – nor did she – what she's been through. Did the healers perform a full body scan on her? He made a mental note to check on that.

But then she seemed to snap out of her pondering and answered his question, while asking who he was. He felt relieved she seemed to gotten out of her shock state.

"I'm Auror Weasley. Ron Weasley. I want to ask you a few questions, if I may?"

Always let them decide. He didn't want to use his interrogation techniques on her, but he wanted to know a few things before he took her to her home. So instead he used what he'd learned in those psychology classes at Auror Academy. He didn't thought it was valuable at the time, but he had to admit it came in handy with this case.

He saw her eyes widen and looked at her expectantly. Would she trust him enough to answer his questions? Was she still in a bit of a shock?

He felt relieved when she agreed on the questions part, but she had caught the term 'auror'. It was only then that he remembered she was a muggle. How could he be such a nitwit? One of the most important remarks of this case, and he completely forgot about it!

He quickly thought about his training and other cases, looking for something to distract her, rubbing his head. But then he thought about the next few days and weeks. She already knew there was something odd about them and he would have to explain everything during his stay in her home. He might as well be honest with her.

"Aurors are wizards who are trained to investigate crimes related to Dark Magic." Ron answered and awaited her reaction. Hermione laughed.

"Good one," she said. "Alright, I understand. It's classified. I promise I won't ask it again."

He smiled. Of course she wouldn't believe him. But that didn't matter, at least not yet.

Alright… it was time he asked the questions he wanted to ask her. He knew she didn't remember anything, but he wanted to keep her talking, maybe even gain her trust. It would make his stay at her house a lot easier if she trusted him.

And her eyes bothered him. He wanted to bring back the life in them. While she laughed at his explanation just now, her laugh didn't reach her eyes.

Would you just listen to yourself, you big prat, Ron thought. What has gotten into you? Focus on the case Ron!

"I want to ask you something about the crime you witnessed. Could you describe what you saw?" He conjured parchment and quill so he could write it down, you never knew she suddenly remembered something. That would make everything a lot simpler and would speed up the whole case, and most importantly, it would shorten his stay with her immensely.

But he didn't get the response he'd expected. At least he got what he wanted, her eyes were no longer lifeless, but shot a fierce look towards him.

"Is this supposed to be funny?" Hermione exploded. "I don't see why you can't take my situation seriously. I never asked to be brought here! Your people found me, took me here, you let me wait for more than an hour without even something to drink or an explanation and then you think it would be appropriate to just… _mock_ me?"

Where the bloody hell did that came from? She kept staring at him with this repulsive look on her face. She really thought this was all a joke to him?

But then he realized the mistake he made. She wasn't used to wizard materials like parchment and quills. They used pen and paper in the muggle world… dead useful in his opinion, but it didn't seem to catch on in the wizarding world.

He casually waved his hand to vanish the parchment and quill and was quite thankful he wore his wand holder on his right arm. He could guess her reaction if he would pull out his wand. He apologized to her and asked her about the Virelli mansion.

She just stared at the table between them.

Merlin's bollocks, she caught that, did she… Ron would need to be careful around her. He needed to distract her and quickly, he didn't want to explain everything right now.

He thought about her memory loss. What if she never regained her memory? He needed to know how large the gap was.

"Hermione, what _can_ you remember? Do you remember how you got there?" he asked. Hermione stared at him. It made him a bit uncomfortable, which was strange. Ron had confronted the most dangerous wizards and witches in the last four years and was never overwhelmed or uncomfortable around them. But this muggle woman made him feel uneasy. What was it about her?

Hermione's face fell and that brought Ron back from his thoughts. She looked… sad? He noticed, while he didn't think it would be possible, that she got even paler since he entered the room. Maybe he should send a patronus to the healer, just in case? No… no magic. Right. She complained about not having a glass of water, maybe he should get her that?

Suddenly she started whispering. "I… I don't remember anything…" At that moment, she seemed so vulnerable. She admitted remembering her name, and she asked Ron what happened to her.

He honestly couldn't answer her question. How frustrating it must be, not remembering what happened to you, but clearly feeling something's wrong.

She started moving and Ron half expected a new outburst, when she grabbed her shirt and unconsciously opened the top button, giving Ron a look at her cleavage.

Ron had to really concentrate on the case and explained to her what Jollins had said during the briefing, fixing his look on the table between them and the file on top of it.

When he was done, he sat back in his seat, still without meeting her eyes. He felt he should say something to comfort her, make her more at ease.

"We're…" No, not _we_ , he thought. I'm the one who's going to be with her. " _I_ am going to try and bring your memory back." If it's possible, he thought, but he sure was going to try his best. "I'm afraid you're the only lead we have in this crime scene."

That seemed to trigger something. Hermione seemed like someone who would help whenever she could. He guessed right, because she started talking again.

"I do remember things. I remember that I love books, that I'm allergic to horses. I remember my name and that I really love chicken pies. I like to know things… But I can't remember where I live, where I work… I can't remember where I was, who my family is. I really don't know…"

Ron noticed she started breathing faster. Was the questioning wearing her out or was something the matter with her?

Should he let her take a break? Maybe some fresh air would do her good. She said she was here for more than an hour, without daylight. The room was enchanted so it wouldn't need candles or fire to light it up. But it wasn't the same, he usually got a headache when he spend too much time in these rooms.

Hermione hooked her fingers and leaned forward, still breathing fast.

This isn't normal, Ron worried. "Hermione, are you all right?"

Was this a panic attack? He had never seen one happen, but he learned about them in training. And if she was panicking, did it mean she remembered something?

He didn't get the chance to overthink it, because she suddenly got up. At least… she tried. He saw her collapse and without further thought he jumped up, rushed towards her and caught her limp body in his arms, cupping her head before it hit the ground.

 _Hermione's POV_

Hermione heard something in the distance. She didn't want to open her eyes, they were far too heavy for her liking. Her head hurts, and her mouth was dry.

But when she heard the clatter of glasses, she slowly opened her eyes. It took her a while to adjust to the bright sunlight that lightened the room she was in.

She found herself in a large king size bed with red and golden sheets, in a room she didn't recognize, with a large window, heavy curtains and beige walls. The closet and dresser were made in ash wood which made a nice contrast with the walls. There were a couple of paintings and when she wanted to look at those, she heard something pop at her left. She yanked her head towards the noise, which she immediately regretted as the dizziness took a hold of her, and vaguely noticed something or someone putting things down on the night table. When the dizziness faded, she could have a clear look at the new person. It was a creature not over three feet tall, had a grey skin tone, lots of wrinkles, large eyes and large pointy ears like an elf… It had brought a pitcher with water, an empty glass and a glass with a thick substance in it.

"Kreature will inform master Weasley that miss Granger has woken up." The creature spoke with a soft and at the same time scratchy voice.

Hermione was petrified but when it all got through to her, she started screaming. Loudly. She jumped out of the bed and ran towards the door.

A second pop was heard along with a voice she did recognize. "Hermione! Wait!"

But Hermione didn't wait, she opened the door and quickly ran into the hallway and down the stairs, where she heard that pop again and suddenly bumped into Ron. That event made her scream again. It wasn't possible, he was just upstairs with her before she ran, but he wasn't there when she woke up, she was sure of it.

Ron held her by the shoulders with a rather firm grip. "Hermione, calm down! I know it's confusing and I will explain it but please, don't scream. I'm not going to hurt you!"

She looked in his eyes. The same blue eyes where she'd lost herself in at the Ministry. She realized it were the darkest blue eyes she ever saw. And they were perfect.

At the moment, they were staring at her, taking her in. She inhaled deeply a couple of times before she relaxed. Her head was still hurting a lot and she used her fingers to massage her temples.

"Hermione, listen to me. We're going back upstairs, and put you back in bed so you can rest. We will talk later, all right?" Ron said as he was guiding her towards the stairs.

Hermione stopped and straightened her back.

"No," she said. "I deserve an explanation. What was that… that… creature in my room? Wait… we're not at my house, are we?"

Ron sighed and dropped his arms. "No, we're not. We are at my place. And please Hermione, follow me upstairs. I'm sure your head still hurts like hell." He raised an eyebrow at her and Hermione instantly rolled her eyes, which brought back the dizziness. She tottered and Ron quickly grabbed her around her waist, steadying her.

"What was that?" he grinned. "Let's go, shall we?"

And before Hermione could protest, he put his right arm under her knees and literally swept her off her feet and carried her upstairs.

"Please, put me down!" she pleaded. She was feeling dizzy and a little nauseous and she was afraid she might throw up all over him. But Ron didn't listen and carried her back to the room she woke up in.

"I'll give you a glass of water and something for your head. It makes you sleepy so you'll want to crawl back in there, if I were you." Ron said, while pointing at the king size bed.

"I'm not taking anything that I don't know. For all I know you're trying to drug me or worse." She huffed, but she did went back to bed.

"I can assure you that I'm not planning on poisoning you or anything else. As you may remember, I'm trying to help you get your memory back. You do remember that, don't you?" he asked. She nodded. "So I don't see any advantage in poisoning you."

"All right. But I need to ask you some questions first."

Ron smirked. "Of course you do." He sat down at the end of the bed. She took the pitcher and poured herself a glass of water, which she drank completely.

"Where exactly are we and how did we get here? No wait… first of all, what was that thing that brought me this?" she asked, while raising her glass.

"That was Kreature, the house-elf from my best friend and brother-in-law Harry. I asked him to bring you that as soon as you were awake."

"House-elf?" Hermione asked confused.

"Hermione… I wanted to delay this conversation until you were completely yourself again. But I can imagine how confusing this all must be. Let me make an agreement with you. You will take the pain potion and try to sleep. You'll feel much better when you wake up, and then we'll talk. I'll explain how you got here, and why there are things happening that you don't understand. All right? If it makes you feel any better, you can lock the door. You can call for me when you're awake."

Hermione wanted to trust him, she really did. But the responsible side of her warned her. For all she knew Ron was her abductor, or had other plans with her.

No, she decided. Ron wasn't like that. Back in the Ministry he was concerned about her and right now he was concerned as well. It wasn't acted, she could tell… again by his eyes. How much could he say through them?

"Agreed," she finally said. "But I'm not taking the… potion. I will try and sleep off the headache, lock the door and I will call you when I'm awake."

"I can live with that," Ron answered and headed towards the door. "I hope you sleep well."

"Thanks," she muttered, while she walked at the door, closed it behind him and locked it. She ran towards the large window, and wanted to open it and get some fresh air. But to her own surprise there wasn't a handle, the window could not be opened. She could see the street outside, cars passing, people walking by… She knocked on the window, waving her hands, trying to catch their attention. But it didn't matter, they couldn't hear or see her. Everyone kept strolling past the window without giving her one look.

With the worst headache she ever experienced, she crawled back into the bed and tried to go back to sleep. At least he was treating her well.

She could see what would happen in the morning. She knew there was something big he wasn't telling her and she would not rest until he told her everything. Hermione was too curious to let it go. She hated it to be kept in the dark.

 **AN: Hope you enjoyed this one!**

 **Before you all send messages complaining about the Fidelius Charm. I know about the charm. It will be explained later on how Ron got Hermione into Grimmauld Place. The next chapters will be about Ron and Hermione getting to know each other, Ron telling Hermione all about the wizarding world and the growing band between them. I'll try not to make it too long until the next event takes place!**


	4. Chapter 4

Ron woke up after a very short night by a tapping sound. He rolled over, put his head underneath his pillow and groaned.

He had worked all evening and a large part of the night on his report. Case "Granger, Hermione".

He had to explain why he took her to Grimmauld Place instead of her own house. 'Because my gut says it's better this way' is not a very plausible explanation. And because he was more comfortable in his own environment instead of in a muggle house, in a muggle street with muggle neighbors where he had to be careful with every step he took or spell he performed.

So he kept thinking through the whole evening of a good enough reason to change the location to a safe house… _his_ house.

It only hit him around 2 AM that her house was jinxed. He had to protect her, watch her in case those Death Eaters – or whoever they were – came back. That was his assignment. So why put her in the lion pit? She was much safer here, in Grimmauld Place, under a Fidelius Charm.

With Harry and Ginny gone for the next couple of days, he had enough time with her to work on her memory.

So he wrote that idea in his report, and asked Jollins to post two Junior Aurors at her house in Surrey to see if someone came back to check on it. He had sent his report with Pig around 3 AM and now Pig had returned with an answer.

When he got up, the small owl went crazy with enthusiasm and kept hopping up and down the window.

Ron opened the window, took the letter from Pig's leg and gave him a treat.

He read Jollins' answer and smiled…

 _Weasley,_

 _I read your report this morning._

 _Although I sincerely doubt that you have no personal reasons to transfer her to a different location – your house for example – I am glad that you took the initiative._

 _At your request, I asked Johnson and Wintam to take post at Miss Grangers house. You were right, a Fidelius Charm will keep her out of harm's way. We can't put one on her own house so I guess this is a good compromise._

 _However, you must know that this can't last forever. At some point, we need to transfer her back to her own place. We will give it a week or two. Let's hope that her memory will return before then, so we can give the whole case back to Olson to finish._

 _Keep me posted if anything changes, I'll do the same._

 _Don't get too cozy._

 _Constant vigilance_

 _Jollins K._

 _Head Auror_

Ron smiled because of the end of the letter. The constant vigilance part was something they started using after the war, as sort of a tribute to Mad-Eye. But he was surprised that Jollins put the 'don't get too cozy' part in it. It was nothing like him to tease. It made him almost sound… human.

"Well Pig," Ron sighed. "He has no reason at all to worry about that. In two weeks, she will be gone and I can move on to yet another case." Pig hooted in return.

He showered, got dressed and went downstairs. Halfway down the last landing, he halted because of the noises he heard coming from the kitchen.

Kreacher was always very quiet when he prepared breakfast or cleaned the kitchen.

He entered the room with his wand out. The next thing he heard was a loud gasp and a clatter of plates that fell on the floor.

In front of him stood Hermione Granger, in one of _his_ shirts and shorts, surrounded by shards.

"I'm sorry," Ron mumbled. That was the last thing he expected to see when he entered the kitchen. He flicked his wand and said "Reparo!". The broken plates went flying to the counter and repaired themselves.

"Are you hurt? Any cuts?" he asked Hermione, who stood perfectly still. No answer. "Hermione?" he asked again.

"I'm sorry… I'm just not used to plates flying around, you see." She said sarcastically.

Right… Ron thought. Muggles… Let's get this over with… He cleared his throat but Hermione started rattling.

"I… I made you breakfast. I didn't know what you liked, so I made some of everything. Your house-elf tried to do it for me, but I didn't want him to. He is quite stubborn, don't you think? He wouldn't let me do it, I asked him a couple of times. But then I saw that you don't have any electricity or even a decent furnace so he had to help me. He's upstairs now, cleaning my room. Again, I asked him not to. So I did the dishes to help him… well, at least until you made me drop it on the floor."

Ron took a seat at the kitchen table.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Kreacher never makes such a racket when he's cooking so I didn't know what to expect. I thought you would still be in your room. How's your head doing?"

Hermione smiled. "Great thanks. I'm feeling very energetic. Without your nasty looking potion, thank you very much. Are you going to explain everything now?" She looked at him expectantly. Ron sighed.

"What about breakfast first? Never discuss something over an empty stomach."

Hermione turned to the counter and gave Ron his breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast and a bowl of porridge, which he immediately refused.

"If I eat that, I'm hungry again after only an hour. Toast with bacon and eggs, that's a real Auror's breakfast." Ron said laughing while he stuffed his mouth full.

Hermione stared at him with a face full of disgust.

"Don't you have any table manners? Don't talk with your mouth full. I'll eat the porridge, I didn't have breakfast yet so I don't mind." And she pulled the bowl towards her and started eating.

Ron stared at her, or rather his shirt. She looked good in it. The bright orange from his Cannons t-shirt fitted perfectly with her brown hair and brown eyes.

Hermione followed his gaze and blushed.

"I haven't got clean clothes of my own in here, I found these in the bathroom upstairs so I put them on." Hermione apologized.

"No, no… It's fine. I should've thought about that. You can borrow something from my sister Ginny. She's on her honeymoon anyway so she won't miss it." Ron cleaned out his plate and leaned in his chair.

"Have you decided to trust me then? Since you aren't locked up in your room anymore?" Ron blurted out, his ears immediately turning red.

Hermione smiled and looked at the table between them.

"Yes. You've treated me well and obviously don't have any intention of hurting me… at least not so far. And to be honest… I'm curious about what you promised to tell me today. I never turn down an opportunity to learn something new."

"Well then…" Ron said. "I'm not very good in telling stories or explaining things, considering I'm used to asking questions most of the time. So I suggest you ask the questions you have and I answer them?"

That way, I won't give you too much information, he thought. Considering they would obliviate her the moment the whole case was solved, he thought he wouldn't bother telling her everything about the wizarding world. What good would it do if Hermione knew all the rules about Quidditch if she won't remember a thing a few weeks from now?

So Hermione did as Ron asked, the next hour she bombarded him with questions about magic, how it worked, what he could do, if there were any laws he needed to follow, … Ron explained everything the best he could and performed some minor spells as an example until he noticed something about her.

"Hermione? Are you feeling okay?" he asked her, while levitating his plate back to the table.

During their conversation, Hermione leaned more and more forward, her arms in her lap instead of on the table, fixed her eyes at a point next to Ron's head and got paler by the minute. She didn't respond.

"Hermione?" Ron reached his hand across the table to touch her arm but he couldn't reach her so he got up and crouched next to her chair. He called her name again but no reaction. He grabbed her shoulder and Hermione startled.

"W-What?" She stammered. She looked down to Ron and he noticed her eyes were dull again, just like in the interrogation room at the Ministry.

"Maybe you should go lie down for a bit? You don't look to good… Some rest would probably be a good idea. Can you stand up?" Ron asked.

Hermione stood up, swayed a little but she could steady herself before Ron could do it for her.

"You're probably right. It was a lot of information to sink in. Maybe I'm getting sick or something." She blinked a couple of times before walking into the hallway to take the stairs.

Ron quickly followed her. "Are you sure you're okay? No dizziness?"

She waved her hand at him to tell him she was fine. Ron watched her as she climbed the stairs and waited 'till she got to the right floor before he went back into the kitchen, where he heard Kreacher starting to clean up.

They both startled when they heard a loud thump and the clatter of glass. Ron immediately turned at the spot and apparated into Hermione's room, where he found Hermione laying on the floor unconscious, covered with cuts from the broking glass and pitcher that she apparently took down with her when she fainted.

Ron healed her cuts, swooped her up and called for Kreacher. The house-elf immediately appeared next to him.

"Kreacher, I'm taking Miss Granger to St Mungo's right away. Would you send an owl to the Auror Department to inform Head Auror Jollins and Auror Olson? Tell them to meet me there." Kreacher nodded and disapparated.

Ron took one look at Hermione's white face and decided he didn't want to risk anything by taking her in Side-Along. So he hurried downstairs, still carrying Hermione and took the Floo to St Mungo's.

 **AN: I'm so sorry it took more than 5 weeks to update… I'm very busy with work (got promoted at the beginning of January so a lot more work to do now) and my family so I couldn't find the time to write this chapter down. But now I'm getting more familiar with my new tasks so chapter 5 shouldn't take so long.**

 **Hope you liked the update!**

 **Thanks to all my followers and favorites!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow, already another update, almost back to back! You're welcome :-)**

 _Black… nothing but darkness…_

 _Hermione tried to open her eyes but she found herself unable to. Relax, she thought. Try to move something. So she did, she tried to move her arm, but again… nothing. Was she dead?_

 _She started to get nervous, until she heard muffled voices from the distance. She focused on them, hoping that she would hear something that would give her any indication of her whereabouts or condition or whatever state she was in right now._

 _She couldn't quite figure out what they were saying, but after some time she was sure she had heard one of those voices before. It took her a moment to realize it was Ron's voice, and he sounded irritated._

 _A couple of minutes later she heard a door open and someone approaching. She held her breath, or at least she tried to and noticed she hadn't got any control over that either._

 _Someone grabbed her left hand, muttered something while she felt a warm sensation shooting through her body, and in the mean time she felt herself doze off._

 _No, no, no, she thought. I must stay alert, I… can't… slee-e.. But the darkness had won._

"No, I can't do it, sir. I'm sorry," Ron said, shaking his head.

Jollins sighed and rubbed his neck.

"C'mon Weasley. I'm sure you miss the action? Olson can follow this up as well as you can. The whole investigation is deadlocked. We can't move on if she doesn't remember anything. Obviously she isn't feeling well and for all we know it's her memory coming back or maybe it's just the flu. The Healers will take good care of her and Olson will be here when she wakes up. We need you on this new case and you know it."

Ron couldn't believe what he just heard. Jollins and Olson had come to meet him at St Mungo's, just like he asked them to. Olson was standing guard in the hallway while Jollins took Ron aside. There was a new urgent case and he wanted Ron to take the lead on it, leaving Hermione to Olson's care.

"With all due respect sir, Olson could easily take on the new case. I was finally successful in gaining her trust. If you transfer her witness protection to Olson, she might decide not to tell anything to him if she remembers what happened. You know how he can be." Ron lifted an eyebrow.

How could he persuade Jollins that Olson was not the right guy to deal with this? He knew his reputation. He would easily take advantage of them being alone. Just the thought of Olson getting close to Hermione was filling his body with rage. Which has nothing to do with Hermione herself, Ron assured himself. He would react like this if it were any other girl. Right? He only knew her for two days.

"I don't have any other option. There are no other Senior Aurors available right now. Your capacities outclass Olson's and besides… she has a habit of fainting around you, hasn't she? It would probably do her good to be away from you." Jollins smirked.

"Look… I don't want to pull rank here, Weasley. But I will if necessary. I expect you in my office for a full briefing within two hours, all right?"

Ron saw no way out. With a muttered 'yes sir' he walked towards Olson to go to Hermione's room, when he saw a Healer approach.

"Excuse me, miss?" he called out to her. The young Healer looked up and straightened her hair. Her name tag told him she was Healer L. Grant. Never heard of her before, he thought. He had spent a lot of time at St Mungo's during his Auror career for mostly minor injuries, and he knew most of the staff there. But Miss Grant didn't ring a bell.

"Yes, sir. Can I help you?" she asked politely.

"Euh, I'm Auror Weasley, Miss Granger was in my safeguard when she collapsed… how is she?" Ron asked, eager to know.

Healer Grant smiled. "She is stable, Mr. Weasley. I was actually on my way to perform a full body scan on her. She's still unconscious I'm afraid, but nothing to worry about. Her vital organs seem to be in good condition. I expect her to wake up as soon as she's ready."

Ron felt relieved. "Can I see her?"

Miss Grant smiled and nodded. "As soon as I'm ready you may visit her. It won't take long, I promise." She looked in his eyes, as if she was searching for something but couldn't find it.

Jollins came to stand next to him when healer Grant went to examine Hermione.

"You're sure there's nothing you want to tell me, Weasley?" he asked. "Your request to see her is purely professional of course?"

Ron shrugged. Of course it was, he was just concerned. That's all.

"Of course, sir. I was just looking for a moment to say goodbye." And I don't like it one bit, he thought.

Healer Grant kept her promise and returned within a couple of minutes. Ron immediately noticed something was off.

"Miss Grant? Everything alright? Is Hermione okay?" Ron asked quickly.

He heard Olson stifle his laugh through coughing. "Strictly professional, my ass," he heard him muttering. He would deal with that git later.

"Would you be so kind and follow me to my office, gentlemen? I would like to discuss something regarding Miss Granger's health." Healer Grant looked at the three of them and waited.

"Certainly, miss. Weasley, you keep guard. Olson will accompany me to miss Grant's office since it's his concern now." Jollins stated.

"Actually… I prefer that Mr. Weasley is present during our conversation. I have a couple of questions about Miss Granger. Since he is her safeguard, he is the only person that can answer them." Miss Grant replied. Ron couldn't help but grin at that. That's right Olson, _I_ am her safeguard, he thought.

"Well then, that's settled. Olson, stay foot. We will be back shortly." Jollins agreed.

Miss Grant's office was a small desk room at the end of the hallway. She waved at the two chairs in front of her desk to make them take a seat.

"Mr. Weasley, if I may ask you… did you perform any magic on Miss Granger while she was under your custody?" she asked Ron.

Jollins snapped his head towards him. Ron was taken aback by such an assumption. He shook his head, while looking at Jollins.

"I can assure you, Miss Grant, that Mr. Weasley here is one of our best Senior Aurors, if not the best. I trust him completely. If he says he hasn't performed magic, than I believe him." said Jollins.

"She was only with me for a day and a half. She slept through the main part of the day yesterday and this morning we just talked, until she collapsed in her room. Wait… I did heal her cuts before I brought her in here." Ron realized.

"Yes, I noticed that, but it's not what I'm referring to. During her body scan I discovered something quite extraordinary. She's been put in some sort of a magical shell that consists of multiple spells and charms, some of them really ancient. It's not your everyday magic, I can assure you. I was able to identify only one particular spell, but I can't seem to neutralize it. The countercurse didn't work."

Miss Grant folded her hands and looked straight at Ron. "I'm afraid we can't do anything more than wait for Miss Granger to wake up. Whenever that will be."

Ron felt useless. Jollins saw his mood change and gave his arm a nudge.

"Not your fault, Weasley."

"Mr. Jollins is right. But I'm not done yet. That one charm I could identify was not inside the shell. It stood apart from the other charms. That's why I could identify it, but it doesn't explain why the countercurse didn't work. I suspect the Memory Charm was cast some time after the others. Quite recently actually, when did you say she was found?"

"Three days ago. Did you say she is under a Memory Charm? Someone obliviated her?" Ron gasped. "That explains her memory loss."

"It doesn't make sense… That Memory Charm is cast not more than 48 hours ago. That's why I asked you if you performed it. Since I can't lift it, I suspect it's a modified spell. Or it interacts with the magic inside the shell, I really can't say. It will take someone with more experience in ancient magic. I'll owl a few people that could assist me." Miss Grant explained.

Ron and Jollins shared a puzzled look. 48 hours ago, she was inside the Ministry of Magic, in their custody.

This is getting stranger and stranger, Ron thought. What was Hermione involved in?

"Wait a minute…" Ron said. "She was examined by a healer and mind healer when she was brought to the Auror Department, wasn't she? Why didn't they notice she was obliviated?"

Jollins cursed. "You're right Weasley. Miss Grant, could we speak to the healer and mind healer who were present at the Ministry two days ago? I didn't catch their names I'm afraid."

"I will look into it immediately, Mr. Jollins. Do any of you gentlemen have questions left?" She asked while she stood up and shook their hands.

Ron cleared his throat and asked "Yes, I have. Did you find anything that causes her to lose her consciousness? I mean… I saw it coming this morning. She got very pale, her eyes went dull. She assured me she was fine, just a bit tired."

Miss Grant sighed. "No, Mr. Weasley. But off the record, I think it has something to do with the ancient magic. It could wear her off immensely. I suggest she'd stay here for the next couple of days so we could find out how to release the curses."

Jollins and Ron left Miss Grant's office and walked through the hospital corridor.

"It just doesn't make sense, you know. She is a muggle girl. Why would she be under such heavy magic? Who cast it and why? I mean, I could understand why she was obliviated - but why the ancient magic?" Ron thought out loud.

Jollins agreed. "I'm more concerned about the fact she was cursed within the protection of the Ministry. Maybe I was wrong to pull you of the case Weasley, perhaps I should…"

They were interrupted when Olson ran towards them and waved.

"Miss Granger is awake… She's asking for loverboy over there." He panted.

Ron rolled his eyes at Olson's comment but was glad Hermione was awake. He looked at Jollins, who merely waved at him and grinned. "Go."

Hermione opened her eyes. No more darkness.

She looked around the room she was in. Too much white, she thought. Everything looked so clean… so… clinical…? Where was she?

She tried to move her arm, and this time she succeeded. It didn't go as fluently as she would want, but it was a start.

She found herself lying in a hospital bed. But no monitors, no needles – thank God – nothing…

Then she realized she was alone. She remembered hearing voices before, one of them belonging to Ron. Was he still here?

She tried to sit up, but it didn't work. She hadn't got enough strength in her arms yet. This wouldn't work. She needed help.

She searched for the bell to call a nurse but couldn't find anything.

Then it hit her… she was talking to Ron when she felt herself doze off. She remembered going to her room, pouring herself a glass of water… then nothing. If Ron took her to this hospital, then maybe it wasn't a _normal_ hospital. Where there separate hospitals for magical people?

She tried her voice to call out for someone. "H… Hello?" She croaked, her eyes fixed on the door.

After a few seconds the door opened and someone put his head through it. She remembered that face… it was one of the Aurors that had found her at the Virelli mansion.

"Ah… you're awake. I will call the healer for you." Olson said.

"Wait…" Hermione said quickly. "Euh… is Ron here?"

Olson smirked. "Yeah, he's here. Can't miss him, can you? Makes me wonder what you guys did the last two days that makes you so fond of him already. Don't worry, I'll go and get him. Enjoy it, because you won't see him anymore after today. I'm your new safeguard. Weasley has other business to attend to." Olson winked at her and shut the door.

Hermione couldn't believe what she just heard. Ron was on another case? No longer her guardian?

She started to breathe faster, but could calm herself down. You're acting like a silly girl, Granger, she thought. You only know him for two days and you're already reacting like some bimbo with a huge crush.

Still… she would miss those kind blue eyes. They didn't talk for long but Ron could make her feel at ease in a heartbeat.

That Olson guy just seemed to be completely different. Did that mean she wouldn't go back to Ron's place? Did Ron choose to take another case, was he sick of babysitting her?

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened yet again, but this time it was a much more friendly face that appeared. Hermione couldn't help but smile. He was here.

"Hey you," Ron greeted her when he shut the door behind him. "I'm glad you're awake. You scared me there. Again."

Hermione felt her cheeks flush. He was worried about her?

"I'm sorry if I have scared you. What happened?"

Ron grabbed the chair next to her and rested his arms on the sheets right next to her. "You fainted. Again. This time it was much more dramatic, you broke the pitcher and got yourself cut. Don't worry," he said when Hermione searched her arms for cuts. "I healed all of them before I took you here."

Hermione started to cry. She was so overwhelmed by all the emotions that came over her.

"Hey… what's wrong?" Ron asked when he noticed her tears. "Are you in pain?"

"No… no, I'm fine," she assured him. He's always so worried, she thought. Then why would he want to take on another case?

"I hear you're going to be working on another case?" she said tearfully. "I'm sorry that I caused you any discomforts. I didn't mean to."

Ron raised an eyebrow at her. "Where did you hear that?"

"Your Auror-friend told me. I asked him if you were here and he said to enjoy our last moment together because he was going to be my new safeguard."

She saw Ron's face harden instantly. He sat up straight and took a deep breath.

"Olson is a great Auror. He will do his best to protect you and keep you safe until your memory returns. The healer found something, so it wouldn't take long to get your memory back. He's right, I was assigned to another urgent case. I'm leaving this afternoon and Olson's taking over." He kept his face straight and Hermione couldn't believe what she just heard.

She wiped her tears away and tried to sit up straight again, but just as before, she couldn't. Ron immediately tried to help, but she pushed him away.

"No… It's okay. You need to go. You have more important business to attend."

Ron stood up, but hesitated and kept standing next to her bed.

Hermione felt new tears burning in her eyes, but tried to swallow them away.

It was for the best, she thought. He was needed somewhere else.

"I'll go and get the healer. Olson will stay with you until you can leave St Mungo's, the hospital you're in." Ron said silently. "I… I didn't ask for this."

Hermione looked at him, but before she could say something, he turned around and left her room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for all your lovely reviews! I always get so excited when I see I have a new review and for all of them to be positive… Couldn't hope for it! So you guys keep me going.**

 **I have the storyline all wrapped out, but I notice I take a sideline here and there when I'm writing a chapter because I keep getting new ideas. So who knows where this is going…**

 **Chemrunner57: her getting ill has – spoiler alert – nothing to do with her memory. We'll soon find out what's causing it. I'm with you on the Olson part, but the next chapter will get to that. Hope you like it!**

 **Colossus13777: I was struggling with the fact that Ron would get another case assigned. I almost didn't go through with it. But then I thought about some events that could happen and for that to be possible, he would have to be on another case. So there you have it.**

 **Guest: I completely agree with you on the not rushing part of their relationship. I'm very clear from the beginning that this is going to be a Romione story. But I also have a problem with AU fanfiction-story's that get them together in chapter 1 or 2 already. I like some tension.**

The new case Ron took on turned out to be a real challenge. It took all his time and he wasn't sorry about that. It took his mind of other things… and other people.

The rare moments he got to spend at his desk writing reports, or getting things ready for a next move, he caught himself looking at Olson's desk.

Angry that he was the one that got to spend time with _her_ … Hermione…

How was she doing? Was she alright? Did Olson treat her okay? He bloody well hoped so… for his sake.

He wasn't involved anymore so they didn't need to keep him up to date but he wouldn't have mind if they did. He hated the fact that they kept him in the dark about her situation or status report.

It was easier when he was out there, in the field. Actually doing something to keep his mind busy. During long stakeouts, he couldn't help but to think about her. And that's what kept him worried. It wasn't like him to ponder over a girl.

With any other girl in the past, he got rid of them as fast as he could. Insecure about the fact that they wanted to get involved with the best friend of Harry Potter, to get to mister Famous himself through him.

But with Hermione… it was different. She didn't even know that Harry existed. He was sure that she was kind to him because she genuinely liked him. Not like _like_ of course, but you know… like friends.

With those thoughts in mind, he was about to go home to Grimmauld Place. His case was temporarily on hold due to some kind of development within the Legal Department, so Jollins said he could take a couple days off until the case was ready for the Wizengamot.

Ron would use those days to find out how Hermione was doing. He would pay a visit to healer Grant, because he didn't know where she was staying. But he hoped she could tell him something, if only to hear that she was doing just fine.

Because that's what friends do right? They look out for each other.

He apparated to the doorstep of 12 Grimmauld Place, opened the door and stepped into the hallway, all the while thinking about his case and Hermione Granger. That's why he wasn't paying attention to all the stuff that was laying on the floor and why he tripped over a flashy green suit case that wasn't there before.

A red face with red hair appeared through the doorway that led to the living room.

"Oi knuckle head! Watch your step, will you! That's a brand new suit case!" Ginny scolded.

Ron cursed internally, managed to get up, pushed the green suit case to the side and stormed into the living room. The hallway was tricky to get through with all their stuff in it, but compared to the living room right now, it was as good as empty. All over the chairs were clothes, bathing suits and towels, another suit case was standing on the coffee table and within all that clutter sat his best friend and brother-in-law Harry Potter.

He grinned at Ron and shrugged his shoulders apologetically. He was busy putting photo's in a photo-album.

"What's all this?" Ron asked, waving his hands across the living room. "You weren't supposed to be back for at least another couple of days. Tired of each other already then?"

Harry and Ginny stared at him. They shared a puzzled look before Ginny got to him and put her hand to his forehead.

"No… still as crazy as he ever was I'm afraid. Ron… we are not back early. It's the 1st of August so we were supposed to come back today."

Ron stared at his sister. Was it August already? That meant it was more than two weeks ago that he had to leave Hermione behind at St Mungo's.

He shrugged and went to the kitchen for a snack. And some peace and quiet but that wasn't what his sister had planned. She quickly followed him, rattling on about their honeymoon.

"We took a Muggle plane back, Ron. Could you believe it? Me on a Muggle device! Dad would be ecstatic if he knew. Can't wait to tell him."

Ginny grabbed his sandwich and took a large bite before Ron could protest. "Hey! Make your own."

"You can tell him later on, love. It's Sunday so we're heading to the Burrow for supper." Harry said, joining them in the kitchen. Ron looked up to him, swallowing his last piece of sandwich. He forgot about that.

He didn't went to the Burrow when he was guarding Hermione and during his latest mission he was constantly abroad or in the Ministry. He hadn't been there since the beginning of the summer holiday.

"Are you coming Ron?" Harry asked. "To the Burrow, I mean?"

"I guess. It's been a while actually. I just went once when you left, but after that I was busy with work so… Now you mention it… I'm surprised Mum didn't send me a Howler already for neglecting her." Ron smiled. He should think of an explanation, because work wouldn't be good enough reason for his mother. Mrs. Weasley was quite strict about the family's Sunday Dinners.

"So… what did you do when we were away? You haven't been a bad boy did you?" Ginny teased.

Ron rolled his eyes and gave her a playful push.

"Oi!" She yelled. "Harry, did you saw that? Are you just letting him push me around like that?"

Harry laughed. "Sorry love. Your brother is not only taller than me, but also a lot broader. Not standing a chance I'm afraid. If you didn't ate half of his sandwich before, then he wouldn't be so cranky now. You know how he's like when he's hungry." Ron didn't say anything, but made himself another bacon sandwich.

"Is Kreacher here?" Harry asked, looking around.

Ron shook his head. "No," he said, swallowing. "I sent him back to the house elves at Hogwarts. Why, do you need someone to clean up your mess? It looks just like my room in there." Ron pointed towards the living room.

"Don't listen to him Harry. Apparently my twat of a brother forgot we're wizards." She walked to the living room, raised her wand and with a few flicks the clothes and clutter started to hover around the house towards their destination. "See? Nothing to it. I don't know why we would need Krea…" Ginny let her arm drop when she saw something unfamiliar pass by. As soon as the spell was broken, all the clothes dropped back on the floor.

Ginny picked something up, though Ron couldn't see what it was.

"You HAVE been a bad boy!" she giggled. Harhhdfdfdfdfdfdfdfdfd

Ron couldn't possibly think what she was on about. Harry soon joined his wife and gasped.

They both turned around in a very theatrical way, and Ginny held something up.

"This, my dear brother, is not mine. Explain yourself." She said and then added, "But not in detail please. I'm looking forward to the family dinner so I will not let you ruin my appetite."

Ginny was holding a pair of trousers, a blouse and a pair of knickers. He didn't think many of it until it hit him… they were Hermione's!

His mouth formed a surprised 'O' and both Harry and Ginny laughed.

"Sorry mate. Busted!" Harry said.

"No, no, no… It's not what you guys think!" Ron hastily explained. He totally forgot about her dirty clothes. And because he sent Kreacher away, he didn't put them in the laundry basket. They'd still be in the bathroom and through Ginny's charm they ended up downstairs.

Ron groaned. He didn't want to explain the whole thing right now.

"Well? What do we think? That you brought someone home as soon as we turned our backs? Had a little fun did we? Or are these yours?" Ginny wiggled her eyebrows while holding up Hermione's plain white knickers.

Ron raised his arms in despair. "Look… off course they're not mine… honestly! They're from…"

The trio jumped from a tapping on the kitchen window. Thank God, Ron thought. Saved by owl post.

Ron noticed immediately that it was a Ministry Owl. Harry untied the envelope from its leg, while Ginny gave it an owl treat and a bowl of water to drink. The owl hooted thankfully before it took off again. Guess they didn't need an immediate answer, Ron thought.

"It's for you, Ron." Harry said, and gave the envelop to Ron.

Ron opened the letter, read it's content and without any hesitation he disapparated, dropping the letter on the floor.

"What was that all about?" Ginny asked, picking up the letter. "Must be important if he took off like that."

"Ginny, you mustn't read it. It's not nice being so nosy. What if it's classified information? Ron will tell you as soon as he gets back, you'll see." Harry tried to stop his wife.

"If it was classified, it wouldn't come by owl now, would it?" Ginny said, opening the letter. It read:

 _Weasley_

 _Case Granger H. – Major development_

 _Olson's in custody – Miss Granger at St Mungo's_

 _Case back to you asap_

 _Jollins_


	7. Chapter 7

**First of all, I'm terribly sorry that it took so long to update… No worries, I'm still alive and kicking!**

 **I had the inspiration, I had this chapter all mapped out in my head, I only had to write it down. And that was the hard part, finding the time to do so. You can plan and think about a story or chapter practically everywhere, but writing it down isn't something you can do during a meeting or work or when you're trying to get your children to bed. And when they are asleep, I'm glad to just lay down a bit and relax.**

 **But fortunately I've finally found some time to work on this one and I already have a fair amount of work done for the next chapter so I won't take as long to update again. I promise!**

 **So, are you ready for some answers? Before you get too excited, there are a lot of chapters still coming so not every question will be answered today. And I promise no cliffhanger in this chapter!**

 _Instead of darkness, there was a lot of light. Bright light._

 _Hermione tried to look around but she couldn't see clearly, the light was blinding her vision. She held her hand above her eyes to shelter them but it was no use._

 _Suddenly she felt very anxious, scared even._

 _She heard a voice… someone was screaming._

 _Hermione tried to yell. "Hello? Is someone there? Is everything alright?" But her lips moved without producing a single sound._

 _She tried to walk but she found herself completely frozen._

 _In the distance she could see faces, silhouettes but nothing detailed._

 _Another scream._

 _Hermione felt helpless. She had the urge to do something, but at the same time she knew she couldn't. She had to stay where she was._

 _Screaming… a murderous laugh. Someone yelled something. A green light._

 _She felt a sudden warmth well up inside her, getting warmer and warmer._

 _Too hot… it burns!_

 _"Stop! Please make it stop!" Hermione tried to scream, but she still couldn't make a sound. But she kept on trying._

 _"Please!"_

 _Suddenly she felt someone grabbing her and calling her name._

 _"It hurts! Make it stop!" She screamed to whoever wanted to hear it, whoever it was that tried to take her. As long as the pain would stop._

"Hermione!"

"No! Please!" She screamed, finding her voice again.

"Hermione! Wake up!"

Someone touched her cheek and that's when her eyes fluttered open. She was out of breath, soaking wet from tears and scared to death. But at least the pain was gone.

"Hey… It's alright, Hermione. It was just a nightmare."

Hermione looked at the person that sat right beside her bed. She found his eyes first, the darkest blue she'd ever seen. Her heart that was already beating too fast skipped a beat when she recognised him. It was him!

"That was some nightmare, huh? Want to talk about it?" Ron asked. She noticed that his jaw was clenched. Out of frustration? Anger?

She shook her head. Her nightmare didn't make sence to her at all, Ron would probably think she was getting insane or something.

"That's alright. Healer Grant will be here any moment, your tossing and turning made the alarm go off so they'll probably want to check on you."

Hermione stared at Ron with big eyes. He acted so different. Distant.

She looked around the room and noticed she was in St Mungo's again. Great. Did she fainted a third time? Was that why Ron was so agitated with her? That he had to take her here again, that she was causing so much trouble?

But then she remembered something about Ron being absent lately. She searched his face for answers, but Ron didn't say a word. He kept a straight face and waited for her to say something.

And then it hit her. She wasn't with Ron the last couple of days. She was with…

"O… Olson." She said.

At the mention of Olson's name, Ron's mouth twitched. His eyes softened a bit when they hooked into hers.

"He won't hurt you anymore, Hermione. I promise." Ron sighed.

Hermione tried to recall what happened, but everything was blank. Did Olson hurt her? She wasn't in any pain at the moment, she tried to check her body for injuries but couldn't find any. That was a relief.

"Ron… what happened? Why are you here? I thought you were on a mission?" She asked, while she tried to sit up straight. Ron stood up from his chair and helped her with her pillow.

He smiled. He seemed to have lost his distant façade. "Why? Do you want me to leave?"

Hermione thought she saw something flicker in his eyes. They looked worried, but also… insecure? Did he really think she would want him to leave?

"No! No, of course not. I'm glad to see you. I was just confused because Olson told me you were on a mission, that's why I was transferred into his care. I just didn't expect to see you, that's all." She gave him a friendly smile. To be honest, she was over the moon with the fact that Ron was sitting right here, by her side. She had been in his custody for just three short days, but it left a mark on her. In a good way of course. Ron made her feel safe, something she never felt with Olson. She shivered when she thought of the Auror.

"What's wrong? Are you cold?" Ron immediately asked, pulling the blanket further up.

See? Hermione thought. He takes care of me.

"No, I was just thinking about Olson. We never really got along. I… I can't remember what happened, Ron. Why am I in St Mungo's again?"

Ron sat back in his chair and ruffled his hair with his hand. But before he could answer her question, Healer Grant entered the room just like Ron had predicted.

"Ah miss Granger. Glad to see you're awake. Everything alright? The alarm went off, so I came to check on you." She said while she looked at Ron with questioning eyes. Hermione noticed an interaction between the two of them, and she thought she saw Ron shake his head.

"I'm fine, just a nightmare." She said, her eyes fixed on Ron. What were they hiding from her?

"What was it about?" Healer Grant asked her. She reluctantly removed her gaze from Ron's face and looked at the healer.

"Nothing actually, I really can't remember it anymore. Not important I guess." She lied and shrugged her shoulders.

Healer Grant frowned. "Miss Granger, I must disagree with you. Dreams are very important, especially when you're dealing with memory loss. It may not make any sense to you, but the dreams or rather nightmares you have could contain memory flashes. I suggest you keep a diary of some sort where you write down what your dreams are about. Even if it doesn't make sense. It might help the investigation from Auror Weasley."

Hermione gasped. "Your investigation?" She said to Ron. "What about Olson then?" She wasn't the one to complain, she'd rather have Ron handle her case but he had left her before. So this time she would be prepared and try to keep a distance between them. If you considered what an impression he left after just three days, what would it be if they spend a lot more time together and then he had to leave? She couldn't and wouldn't think about that.

"Let's just say Olson's got cut off the case. They transferred your case and the Virelli case to me. I was practically finished with the other assignment, so I had the time." Ron answered.

Hermione's face fell. She hoped Ron had asked to be reassigned to her, but now it seemed he didn't had a choice. Was that why he was so distant? Because he didn't want to be with her? She was a burden?

Healer Grant cleared her throat.

"Miss Granger, I'm sure you're happy to know that you may leave the hospital this afternoon. Everything is in order and I leave it to Auror Weasley to brief you about your condition. Just be careful and try to take it easy the next couple of days. You need your rest. You may still have questions, feel free to ask them to Auror Weasley. He can give you the answers. As I was informed by the Head Auror mr. Jollins, you'll be leaving with mr. Weasley this afternoon to another safe house." She looked at Hermione and Ron, waiting to see if they wanted to say something.

"Euh… thank you, Healer Grant." Hermione quickly said. Miss Grant nodded and left the room, leaving Hermione with tons of questions. She hadn't got any wiser. It was up to Ron then to give her the information she wanted.

"Well?" She asked him. "Start to talk."

Ron sat up straight and covered his face with both his hands. Fortunately he had dropped the attitude, and that's why Hermione noticed just now that he was looking extremely worn out.

"Ron? What's the matter?" she asked with genuine concern.

Ron stood up and paced around the room. "It's just a lot to take in I guess. Considering what's happened the last couple of hours." He looked at her apologetically.

Hermione started to get irritated herself. It looked like everyone knew something that she didn't. This had to stop.

"Ron, please sit down and tell me what is going on. Healer Grant said you had all the answers so start giving them!" She huffed, crossing her arms.

Ron looked at her, gave her a hint of a smile and went back to the chair he sat on earlier. He held both his hands up in surrender.

"Alright, alright. No need to be so bossy now." He grinned. "Fire away." Ron waved his hand towards her to tell her she could start asking questions.

"What happened with Olson? Why is he no longer working on my case?"

"You had to start with the most difficult one, did you…" Ron sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you if you promise not to interrupt me. You can't remember it, but we extracted Olson's memories of that time so we have a pretty good idea what happened yesterday." Hermione noticed the change in his features again. Clenched jaw, straight face, hands turned into fists. Perhaps it hasn't got anything to do with her after all.

She pulled her knees towards her and put her chin on them. "Fine," she said. "I won't say a word. But that was the only question I wanted to ask, I'm sure the other ones will be answered with it as well."

"I think so too. Now, I won't soften it for you. Olson tried to force himself on you. He -"

"He did?" Hermione gasped and immediately went red. She pretended to lock her mouth and motioned Ron to continue.

"Well, as I was saying before I was interrupted, Olson tried to force himself on you. He didn't succeed, if that's what you wanted to ask. He just thought that you were playing hard to get and interpreted your friendly behavior towards him in a wrong way. Eventually he made a move on you, which you declined. And then he snapped… and well… you can complete the picture. I'm just glad that git didn't succeed. It was already hard for me not to hex his bollocks off during his interrogation." Ron fumed. He was furious, Hermione could tell. So that's what was bothering him. He wasn't angry at her.

"So you're not angry with me then?" she asked.

"Hell yeah, I'm angry with you. You've put yourself in danger, Hermione. I saw it in his memories, you went outside! And you… you…" Ron sighed heavily. His hand flew through his hair, a move that distracted Hermione.

"I what, Ron? You haven't told me why he didn't succeed. Did I fight him off? Did one of your fellow Aurors came to my rescue?" She hesitated a few seconds before she went on. "Did you?"

"No, it was not me. I wish it was though, I wouldn't let him get away unscathed. That bloody tosser went too far." She saw Ron focusing on a point behind her. She turned her head but there was nothing there but a clinically white wall. She shifted so she could look into his eyes.

"Hey," she said. "You would've gotten yourself into trouble for that. So I'm glad in a way that it wasn't you. Otherwise you wouldn't be with me now, would you?"

"Yeah I guess that's true. But it doesn't change a thing. I still want to curse him. But hey… you're coming with me to my place again, what about that?"

Ron's face lit up when he told her that. Hermione was glad he was excited about spending more time together. Ron was a nice person to be around.

"We won't be alone though. My sister Ginny and her husband came home from their honeymoon. So you'll get to meet them as well. I haven't told them about you so be prepared for some awkward moments. Knowing my sister, she'll probably think that you're my girlfriend or something." Ron's ears went scarlet. Hermione too got shy all of a sudden. It wasn't an unpleasant thought, she had to admit. Not that she was in love with Ron, but she could easily picture him as "the boyfriend".

Ron took a backpack that was standing beside the hospital bed and gave it to Hermione.

"I brought you some clothes. After you've changed, we can leave for Grimmauld Place. We can continue our conversation there." He stood up and was about to leave the room to give her some privacy when Hermione asked the question he wanted to delay as long as possible.

"You never told me why Olson didn't succeeded. And why I'm here at St Mungo's."

Ron answered it without turning around.

"You fought him off… You blasted him through the walls of the safe house…" He heard Hermione gasping in shock, took a deep breath and turned his head.

"Hermione… you performed magic on him."

 **Tun tun tuuuun… hopefully you didn't saw that one coming!**

 **Next chapter will give you more answers when Hermione learns more about herself.**

 **And the question about Olson is answered.**

 **But his roll isn't done yet, so stay tuned!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well that was harder than I thought it would be… As I said in the previous chapter, I already did a lot of work for this 8** **th** **piece of the story. But when I reread it, I thought… nope, I'm going to change that!**

 **So back to the beginning it was.**

 **This is a rather quiet chapter, nothing special.**

Ron turned his head slowly and sighed.

"Hermione… you performed magic on him."

Ron almost spat the words in her direction. But at the same time he knew that she wasn't the one to blame. She'd lost her memory after all. She didn't remember she was a witch. But still… it was still strange to look at Hermione as someone magical. A witch. It didn't suit her.

He kept staring at Hermione, who was completely lost for words. She just watched him, waiting for him to continue. But was it his task to give her the information she wanted?

He knew what had happened the last couple of hours, what had changed, what had caused her magic to surface. The healers had explained it to him. He didn't give them a choice of course; he'd crashed their meeting to demand an explanation.

He immediately disapparated to the Auror Department after he'd received Jollins' letter. He wanted to confront Olson, be a part of his interrogation. If he went to St Mungo's first to check on Hermione, he knew he wouldn't be able to leave her. She was reassigned to his care, his protection. Once he was back with her, he wasn't planning on leaving her out of his sight again.

Jollins had waited for his arrival to start the interrogation. Olson was healed and capable of answering questions. That's when Ron first learned what had happened.

Ron had never trusted that slimy git. He was angry at Jollins for transferring her case to him. He didn't hide that fact from the Head Auror.

"With all due respect Sir, you never should've given Herm… Miss Granger's case to Olson. He was all too eager to take it." Ron said to Jollins before heading to the interrogation room.

Jollins smirked at him. "And you're not? You acted very reluctant when I handed you the case a couple of weeks ago, but now you are very eager to take it back yourself. Should I be getting suspicious Weasley? She's growing on you, isn't she?"

Ron felt his ears burning but wouldn't give himself away. He straightened his back before he answered.

"Not at all Sir, just doing my job thoroughly. If you would want to give her case and the Virelli case to another Auror, I won't keep you from it." As he heard himself speak those words aloud, he winced internally. He tried to forget about her during his other mission and he wasn't capable of doing that. He wanted to be her guardian very badly. Only because he didn't trust someone else with her, he kept saying to himself. He felt very protective of her. In a brotherly way of course, he added quickly.

"That won't be necessary, Weasley. Like I said before, you're the best of the best. I know you could keep her safe while working on the murder case. And I know _you_ would keep your hands to yourself."

The interrogation of Olson was a short but intense one for Ron. He had to trust upon his Auror training to contain his anger towards Olson. Ron wanted to make him feel uncomfortable, but he couldn't get to him. Being a fellow Auror, Olson wasn't easy to impress. Ron had given him a clear message though. Touch another woman against her will – and especially Hermione he added internally – and he would have to deal with him personally.

Olson was suspended from field work and put on desk duty until further notice.

After the interrogation – which was way to calm in Ron's opinion, he would rather have his face punched on every inch of furniture available – Ron watched Olson's memories in the Department's pensieve, together with Jollins.

He didn't know what to think of it. He saw Olson making a move on Hermione, followed by a bright light. Olson being thrown backwards, hitting the walls. He didn't mind that part of course. He would love to see that image over and over again.

It wasn't until Jollins told him that Hermione used magic to throw him off of her, that he understood what the bright light had meant.

"But how… Why didn't they notice it before?" Ron said. "She was checked out by healers. She was in the hospital after she fainted; they should've seen that, right?"

Jollins shrugged. "The Healers can probably answer those questions for you. We're going to interrogate Olson a second time, but you're not needed then. I want to know why he did what he did. He should've known there were going to be consequences. Why risk your job over one girl?"

Ron could imagine himself risking his job over Hermione. But not in the way Olson had done.

Jollins went back to his office, leaving Ron in the corridor. Before he disappeared around the corner, he smiled and said:

"Do yourself a favor, Weasley and go check on her in St Mungo's. Take her back to your place when she's discharged. I'll send the case files to your home so you can work from there. Keep me posted will you?"

And now he was with her again. He knew all about her, more than she did herself.

"What do you want me to say, Ron?" Hermione suddenly whispered.

Ron immediately softened his expression. He didn't want to scare her. She'd been through enough already.

"Nothing. You didn't know Hermione. I'm just angry that you endangered yourself deliberately. After you knocked him out you went outside. What if there were Death Eaters around or whoever they are that want to hurt you? They could've easily taken you away. It isn't called a safe _house_ for nothing."

Hermione shrugged.

"Now, get dressed. We're going home again. I'll tell you everything I know, okay? They handed the murder case to me, so you can help me with that. I'm still convinced you were involved in some kind of way. We can find out together, alright?" Ron turned around and left the hospital room, but he caught a glimpse of a smile on Hermione's face.

God, he'd missed that.

Harry and Ginny were startled by the green flames in the fireplace. They didn't expect anyone arriving by Floo. Now when Ginny come to think of it, no one ever travels to Grimmauld Place by Floo… They had altered the Fidelius Charm so that anyone could enter through Side-Along if they were accompanied by one of the inhabitants and if the inhabitant was not under any sort of spell or curse and acted entirely under his or her own free will.

There were only three inhabitants, Ginny, Harry and Ron and Kreacher of course who could already apparate due to his elf magic.

So that's why both Harry and Ginny leaped to their feet and draw their wands immediately. The only person who wasn't home was Ron and he always apparated into his own room or at the front door. They agreed on those spots on Ron's demand because he kept walking in on Harry and Ginny in rather compromising positions when he used to apparate into the kitchen or living room.

But against their expectations, it was Ron who entered the living room through the fireplace. And he wasn't alone.

When Ron entered his living room, he was greeted with two wands pointed at him, inches away from his nose.

"Oh, cut it out will you," he said and pushed his sister's wand down with his hand. "It's only me. Who else could it be?"

"Who knows? You could've warned us, Ron. You never travel by Floo when you come home. We were just being cautious, 's all." Harry said, while putting his wand in his back pocket.

Ron knew he could've send an owl or a patronus to tell them they were coming. He'd forgotten about it in all his enthusiasm. He saw Ginny eyeing Hermione, who tried to hide herself behind him. Ron had given Hermione some clothes from Ginny to wear and he guessed that Ginny had noticed. He felt his ears turning scarlet.

"Euhm… this is Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is my sister Ginny and my brother-in-law Harry Potter," he said to Hermione, trying to put her at ease.

"I'm currently on a witness protection program and she's the one I need to keep an eye on. I'll explain it to you guys later, if you don't mind I want to show her to her room so she can rest. We took the Floo from St Mungo's," Ron explained, and to Hermione he said, "You should rest for a bit, like the Healers said."

Harry and Ginny saw the two of them heading upstairs. When they were out of sight, Ginny turned to her husband.

"Harry, is it common for Aurors to bring their work home? Like… literally?" she asked him. Harry shook his head.

"A witness that needs protection would be transferred to a Ministry safe house, under the constant guarding of one or two Aurors. Unless that's changed since I left the department, but Ron would've mentioned it."

"Did you saw that she was wearing _my_ clothes?" Ginny whispered. Harry nodded and wanted to say something, but kept silent when they heard Ron descending the stairs.

Ron entered the living room and let himself fall into one of the soft chairs, his feet dangling over the elbow rest. He was feeling rather tired. A nap wouldn't be unwelcome.

But there were two sets of eyes who were staring at him from the other chairs. He sighed, and put his feet back on the ground.

"Alright, what is it?"

"Why is she wearing my clothes? And why did you bring her here instead of a Ministry safe house?" Ginny fired away.

"Hermione is a muggle, Ginny. We assume she witnessed a magical crime, because she was found at the Virelli Mansion, with the entire family murdered. She suffers from a memory loss, which the Healers can't heal. She has to regain her memory all by herself. The murder case went to Olson and I was assigned to keep an eye on her and maybe help her to get her memories back. I figured she could stay here with me, because you were gone on your Honeymoon," Ron explained. Ginny wanted to say something, but Ron held his hand up to silence her.

"She only stayed here for one night. Hermione was acting rather strange. I tried to explain magic to her, showing her some basic spells. But it seemed to wear her out or something, because she fainted and got herself injured. It was the second time she did that in my presence," Ron continued.

Harry snickered. "Don't tell me, I have the same effect on women," he winked at Ron. Ginny punched him in the arm, but laughed at his joke.

"No, you don't understand. It was later discovered at St Mungo's that she was inside a magical shell. Someone had used magic on her, but we couldn't figure out why. The Healer who treated her, couldn't identify the spells that were used or remove them, which is odd, don't you think? It was like she was protected by that shell, but I thought it made her ill, because she kept fainting. Anyway… I was assigned to another mission and Olson took over. When I returned two weeks later, you guys were home."

"But if she's a muggle, why bring her here Ron? Doesn't the Statute of Secrecy mean anything to you? Why expose yourself and us?" Ginny asked.

Harry cleared his throat. "I can answer that, love. When there are muggles involved in a magical crime scene, their memories get wiped and altered when the case is closed. They can provide useful information during the investigation."

Ron nodded. "That's right. As soon as the murder case is solved, they would obliviate Hermione and bring her back to her home."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Would? Do you mean they're not going to do that anymore?"

Ron sighed. "Look… you remember that letter I got this morning? Don't look at me like that, Ginny, I just know you read it after I left. Apparently Olson couldn't keep his hands to himself and tried to force Hermione into… well, you know," Ron clenched his fists in anger, "She fought him off though… with the use of raw magic." Both Harry and Ginny gasped at this, but Ron continued.

"It seems that Hermione is a witch, but I doubt that she knew this. Well, we don't know for sure because of her memory loss. Her case and the Virelli case came back to me and I just went to get her at St Mungo's. She's going to stay here as my guardian, and I'm working both cases from home."

"Wait a minute… those clothes I found. They were hers, right?" Ginny exclaimed. Ron nodded.

"She does look pretty, doesn't she?" Ginny wiggled her eyebrows.

Ron stood up from his chair and stretched his muscles. "Stop it, Ginny. I know what you're trying to say. We have a connection, but that's it. Look, I wanted to ask you something. Could you help me the next couple of days? I mean… Hermione is a girl and she doesn't know a thing about magic. She doesn't have clothes of her own. I was wondering if you could go to Diagon Alley and get her some clothes? She's not allowed outside of Grimmauld Place and there's no way that I'm going to do that. I need to stay with her 24/7."

Ginny smiled. "I'm happy to help, you know that. She really seems like a nice girl, although a bit shy. Maybe I can go upstairs and pay her a visit? Get to know her a bit?"

Ron nodded, but added quickly, "If she's asleep, please let her be. She really needs to rest. I've got some things to tell her when she's awake and well… it's not going to be easy." Ginny flashed him a smile and hurried upstairs.

Harry patted his shoulder and grinned, "Well mate, you could've done worse. I guess you were not so reluctant with this case?"

Ron smiled and thought to himself, "You have no idea Harry… you have no idea…"

 **Next chapter: Hermione learns something new and gets to know Ginny a little better. And Ron is trying to figure out why his mood seems to be so much better lately!**


	9. Chapter 9

**What's that? Another update?**

 **It is!**

 **So no, I have not abandoned this story and no, I haven't died or gotten a serious disease. I was (and still am I'm afraid) just buried in a sh*tload of work, at the office and at home and to be honest, I wasn't really in a happy place with my mind.**

 **Still having troubles finding the silver lining every day but consider this my good deed this month: posting yet another chapter.**

 **So you're warned now that chapter 10 can be a while, hopefully not another 7-8 weeks, I promise I'll work on it.**

 **And to those who have left a review: thank you! It's nice to hear that you guys love this story.**

 **And to those who are suggesting there might be a soul bound theme behind this story, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm not messing with souls here. Just attraction between Ron and Hermione. You don't have to think there's more to it. Not to this part of the story at least!**

 **Disclaimer** : All the characters belong to JK Rowling, I'm just the writer that's playing with them.

Hermione watched the people outside walk by her window. Instead of trying to gain their attention, like she did just a couple of weeks ago, she just watched them. Walking, jogging and occasionally skipping. People on their way to work, who didn't have much time to lose, were walking fast, coffee-to-go in their hand, briefcase in the other. Families with small children went by strolling, carefree and with big smiles. It made her wonder when she would be free again to do the same.

She didn't bother ducking away behind the curtains when they looked in her direction, she knew they couldn't see her. Ginny had explained it to her when she visited Hermione in her room this afternoon.

Hermione had thought it to be Ron, who promised to come back to check on her, only to be surprised by another redhead. She didn't mind the company, the whole time she tried to ask Ginny about her brother but she couldn't find the courage to do so. Luckily, Ginny did it all by herself.

"What do you think of my brother, Hermione?" Ginny asked her flat out after they'd chatted for a bit. Hermione's eyes got very wide and she started to stumble over her words.

"I… euh… well… I mean, he… He's a good auror I guess…" She didn't dare to meet Ginny's eyes, afraid to give her away.

Ginny started to snicker. "Oh please, Hermione. I'm just playing with you. But you're right, Ron is indeed a very good auror. One of the best, in fact."

"I believe you. He's been nothing but kind to me. Especially if you compare him against Auror Olson, they're complete opposites," Hermione shuddered.

"I'm sorry you had to go through such an awful experience, Hermione. And I'm sure you have a lot of questions about what happened with you. That's not why I came here though. Actually, my big brother asked me to go shopping for you." Ginny smiled.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She knew she liked shopping, she could remember what it was but she didn't understand why Ron would want his sister to do it for her. Unless her stay here would be much longer then she expected.

"Did he? And what did he ask you to buy for me?" Hermione asked warily. She had to talk to him about that. He didn't know that she was a control freak and didn't like people making decisions for her. It was difficult enough as it was, being almost like a prisoner. Although she had to admit that she was being treated much better than an actual prisoner and that apparently Ron was doing everything he could to make her stay comfortable. Like buying her new clothes, for example.

"Just some clothes. I don't mind sharing with you, but he thought it would be nicer for you to have your own while you stay here. And since you're not allowed to leave this house and Ron isn't planning on leaving you… well, I'm on shopping duty. Not that I mind, what girl doesn't like to go shopping! And we're the same size, so that makes it easier. You don't seem like the frilly lace-and-pink dress type, so a couple of trousers and shirts will do, I suppose?"

Hermione nodded. Ginny stood up from the bed and went for the door. Before she opened it, she turned and gave her a friendly smile. Hermione waited for her to speak, but she saw Ginny hesitate, debating whether or not to say her thoughts out loud. She went for the latter.

"You know, my brother acts like a complete twat most of the time. But with you, he's different. He cares… I can see that. He doesn't behave like an auror around you, although he's supposed to. I think your stay here could become quite interesting."

And so it was that instead of resting Hermione was sitting on the windowsill looking at the people outside. She kept thinking of what Ginny had said about Ron acting differently around her. She didn't really know Ron at all, so she had to take her word for it. It was true that he was very kind to her and when she saw him at St Mungo's there was actual concern in his expression. But that didn't mean anything, besides the fact that Ron was indeed a very good auror.

But when Olson took over, he was upset about it. She remembered what he had said to her, right before he left. _I didn't ask for this_ …

After some time, Hermione got bored. She wasn't tired, and Ron didn't visit. She wasn't allowed to leave the house, but surely she could leave her room?

Ron had promised her some answers and he was doing his best not giving them. She'd waited long enough. She rose from the windowsill and opened the door that led to the hallway. There wasn't a sound in the entire house. Hermione swallowed heavily. Surely they didn't leave her here all by herself? Ginny had said that Ron didn't want to leave her alone, so that wasn't likely.

Just as she placed one foot in the hallway, Kreacher apparated right in front of her. Hermione gave a high-pitched squeal, not because she was afraid of him like on her first day here but because Kreacher had startled her.

Before she or Kreacher could say something, she heard someone run on the stairs.

"Hermione?" Ron yelled, hurrying on the stairs. "Are you all… right?" He stopped running as soon as he spotted the house-elf.

"Kreacher was going to ask Miss if she needed anything, like Master Weasley told him to. Kreacher kept an eye on Miss like Master Weasley wanted," Kreacher croaked.

"It's alright, Ron. Really. He just scared me, appearing out of thin air right in front of me. I'm afraid I'm not getting used to you guys popping around everywhere." Hermione said sheepishly. She saw the concern on his face practically fall off and being replaced by relief.

"I'm sorry. I thought you… You shouldn't scream like that. I thought there was something wrong or that you hurt yourself." Ron said, scratching the back of his head. He nodded towards Kreacher, who disapparated into the kitchen, according to the sounds he heard downstairs. Hermione huffed and put her hands at her hips.

"Oh I'm sorry that I didn't faint a third time. That's what you're referring to, right?" She pointed towards him. "I'm not helpless, you know. Like I said, I was just startled because Kreacher appeared out of nowhere. Nothing more, nothing less. And another thing, I- "

Hermione was cut off when Ron started laughing.

"Oh you think this is funny, do you?" She pointed a finger towards him.

Ron tried his best to stop laughing, he really did, but the whole scene in front of him was just too comical. Hermione, who was remarkably shorter and much more fragile than he was, trying to scold him for worrying about her. She looked adorable, really. That thought did the trick and he immediately stopped laughing. He wasn't supposed to find his protégée _adorable_. It wasn't right. Yet she was incredibly adorable, even if she was pointing her angry finger towards him. But then he remembered something the Healer said to him. She shouldn't get angry.

"Hermione," he tried calmly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have started laughing, I guess I was just relieved nothing serious happened. Why don't you come downstairs and we can eat something. I'm starving." Ron patted his stomach.

Hermione crossed her arms and held her chin up in the air, trying to look like she didn't care.

"Like I said, I can take care of myself. Now, you promised me to tell me more about what happened to me. Yet you're always looking for an excuse not to. First you wanted to wait until we left the hospital, then you wanted me to take a rest. And now you want to eat first? What's your next excuse Ron? Because I think I have the right to know what happened to me."

Ron looked guilty. She saw him hesitating for a while, before he gave in.

"You're absolutely right. Why don't we discuss this while we're eating? Because I am really starving. Can't do long without any food, I'm afraid." He gave her a lopsided smile, which she immediately categorized as her favorite.

She had to admit, she was a bit hungry herself. Something to eat wouldn't be so bad and if he held his promise, she would finally know what happened. And she got to spend more time with him in the process. A win-win situation really.

They sat down at the kitchen table, eating the sandwiches Kreacher had prepared. This raised a couple of questioning looks from Hermione, but Ron didn't seem to notice them.

"Does Kreacher always do your housework around here? You don't know how to cook?" she asked, after swallowing her first bite of her chicken sandwich. Ron was already halfway through his bacon sandwich, not caring about small bites or table manners for that matter. He eyed Hermione suspiciously, wondering where she would go with this.

"I know how to cook. I cook when I'm out for work. It's edible, but that's about it really. Kreacher does a fine job, although he cannot compete against my mother's cooking. Sorry Kreacher," Ron winked at the house-elf. Kreacher huffed and left the kitchen. Ron laughed.

"He can't stand it when I say that my mother can cook better. Much better actually. That woman is a goddess in the kitchen, if you ask me."

"You shouldn't tease him like that, Ron. You didn't even thank him for the food. A little appreciation can do wonders you know. Does he live here?" Hermione reprimanded him.

"Yeah, Harry gave him one of the rooms on the third floor. He used to live under the sink, so that's been a huge improvement. We had a rough start, but he turned around. Makes a mean kidney pie, but don't tell him I told you that," he smiled.

Hermione gave a tiny smile back. She liked talking to Ron like this. She made a mental note to ask more about Kreacher and house-elves, but they had more important things to discuss. This couldn't wait.

"Ron, are you really letting me drag this out of you? Will you please… please tell me what you know? You said the Healers told you everything. Like I said, I have the right to know. You promised…"

Ron swallowed the last bite of his bacon sandwich and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, I know," he said. He couldn't postpone it any more. She had the right to know, and yet he made a promise to himself not to tell her everything. Not yet. It was not that he didn't trust her, but you could never know. This wasn't an ordinary witness protection case anymore, and he felt like he'd lost a bit of his authority over her.

"You had some sort of magical shell around you. The shell consisted of several ancient spells, blocking the magic from the inside but also from the outside. The first time you stayed in St Mungo's, the only thing the Healers could say was that they found the shell, and not even the curse breaker they called in could lift it. They couldn't even identify what kind of spells they used, except for a Modified Memory Charm. They were able to lift that particular spell so that's when we knew someone used magic on you quite recently. We put you into my custody and I was supposed to keep an eye on you until you're memory came back. Due to the Modified Memory Charm, we could've waited for a bloody long time. But when we made progress – by that I mean, when the Memory Charm was lifted – you got transferred to Olson." Ron clenched his teeth together when he mentioned Olson and a shot of anger flashed through his eyes.

"You know that wasn't really my choice. There was an urgent case that came up and they really wanted me to handle it. If I had known that… that he…" He gripped the table until his knuckles went white.

Hermione reached her hand towards him, to soothe him. But halfway across the table, she hesitated and pulled her hand back. She wanted to comfort him, but didn't know if it was appropriate.

"You couldn't have done anything to prevent that, Ron. Nobody could suspect he would do such a thing. And he didn't succeed, that's the most important part." She assured him.

"Still… I should've been there. But you managed just fine, apparently. While you were with him, you broke the magical shell. You got so emotional – fear perhaps or anger – that you performed raw magic. You see, Hermione, raw magic is much more powerful than wand magic. Raw magic comes straight from the source, really. Every wizard or witch performs raw magic as a child. It's our first sign of magic, uncontrollable and mostly shown under the influence of a strong emotion. When we turn eleven, we get ourselves a wand and go to school to learn how to control it. We can't perform magic without our wand. There are some who say that it's possible, but we don't have any records of that at the Ministry. That's why your case is so interesting." He reached towards the plate for another sandwich.

"We don't know if it really was your first magic, which would be quite extraordinary considering your age, or that you're able to perform magic without a wand. Because you don't remember anything about your life before, there's nothing left but some wild guesses for now. So to be honest, right now we're just waiting for you to regain your memory. In the meantime, you stay here with me."

Hermione didn't know how to respond to that. It wasn't completely new. Ron had told her in the hospital she'd performed magic.

But she didn't get an answer to her questions. Not all of them.

"And why did I felt so off sometimes? I lost consciousness two times. Why was that?" She grabbed her sandwich, which she'd hardly touched except for the one bite, but put it back on her plate. She was too anxious to eat.

"Well, that's the curious part of it all. Do you realize you fainted every time someone used magic around you? According to the Healers, there was an enchantment inside your shell that drained your energy whenever someone close to you would perform magic. With of all the spells surrounding you, which were already wearing you down because there were so many, it would cause you to lose your consciousness. It was just too much for your body to take." He frowned. It still didn't make sense.

"That's right!" Hermione exclaimed. "In the interrogation room you did something with that quill. You made it appear and then disappear!"

Ron grinned. "Yeah, I figured you noticed it… I conjured a quill and parchment out of habit. Forgot you didn't knew a thing about magic." He took another bite of his second sandwich, and a gulp of tea.

"That caused you to faint the first time. And the second time… well… that was my fault. I shouldn't have shown you all those spells. It was wearing you out, I saw that. And that caused your second faint. But that's something we don't have to worry about anymore. No more spells on you, Miss Granger." He smiled.

Hermione flushed, but didn't know why exactly. Maybe because Ron did put a spell on her? But not like he meant, off course.

They finished eating their sandwiches in silence, before Hermione asked him what their plans were.

He stood up and held his hand out for her to take.

"Well, Miss Granger," he said grinning, "Right now, we are going to have some fun!"


	10. Chapter 10

Hermione lived at Grimmauld Place for about two weeks now. The first couple of days Ron focused on her being comfortable and feeling at home. The Virelli Case could wait, he'd thought, since they were stuck after all.

They spend a lot of time together, talking or playing games of Wizards Chess and Exploding Snap, which he always won, much to Hermione's displeasure. He'd shown her the books he had to study for his Auror training and let her read them, demonstrating the different kind of spells and enchantments. Since she wasn't surrounded by the shell anymore, he could perform magic without it affecting her health. Hermione was a good student, taking it all in and very eager to learn more. It was a shame she wasn't allowed to try and perform the spells herself really.

He was careful not to let her experience strong emotions, because the Healers had warned him that it could trigger another outburst of raw magic. It wasn't always easy, he couldn't read her mind after all.

But since nothing happened so far, Ron thought he had done a good job. He began to believe that maybe it was just a onetime event.

When he did have to do some paperwork – mostly when he had to send an update to the department – it was Ginny who held Hermione company. Ron was glad that the two of them got along so well. It all turned out much better than he could have ever hoped for. He should've known that it couldn't last…

One night, Ron lay in his bed tossing and turning, pulling the sheets over him and the next minute kicking them off again. He looked towards his alarm clock for the millionth time, noticing only three minutes passed since the last time he checked. In a few hours, he had to get up so he could say goodbye to Harry, who would leave to Hogwarts, preparing for a new school year.

He really should be sleeping but he couldn't, no matter what he tried. He had suffered from insomnia since the Battle of Hogwarts, but the past two years it got better. He didn't drink the Dreamless Sleep potion anymore.

Yet tonight, he wished he had.

The worst part was that he knew what kept him awake. And he could do nothing about it. Earlier that day he'd received an owl from Jollins, asking him to come to the department the next day for a briefing. Ron feared that there might be another case for him to work on, and that Hermione needed to be transferred again. He tried to make a mental list with all the reasons why he couldn't lead another case, why he should stay on the Virelli Case and keep an eye on Hermione. But since there was no new lead and Hermione still couldn't remember something, Ron knew he had nothing.

He grew very fond of her, since Hermione was an easy person to be around. He caught himself staring at her when she was reading in one of his old schoolbooks, or thinking about her when she was upstairs with Ginny. His sister loved to tease him about his so-called 'feelings' towards Hermione and he had to admit that maybe… maybe Ginny wasn't so far off. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

He was finally drifting away when a loud thud startled him. His Auror reflexes made him immediately reaching for his wand. He sat up straight, very slowly so he didn't make a sound, not knowing if he had imagined it or not. He listened carefully, got out of bed to take a look out of his window to see if there was something outside that could've made the noise.

Nothing… he really needed some sleep if he was imagining things, Ron thought.

But just as he was about to crawl into bed again, he noticed a dim light under his door. It was coming from the hallway and seemed to be moving around. He decided not to risk anything; after all he was supposed to protect Hermione… and his best friend and sister too of course, he added. He was fairly sure nobody unwanted could enter Grimmauld Place, but better not to take any risks.

He silenced the door so it wouldn't make a sound when he opened it and slowly slipped into the hallway where he came face to face with a drawn wand…

"Hold it right there!" Harry shouted. "What is… Ron! What are you doing here?"

"For fuck's sake, Harry! Shhh…" Ron whispered, while lowering Harry's wand. "Keep it down, will you. And for the record, this is my room. Who else would leave it in the middle of the night?"

Harry grinned wide. "I can think of someone, as a matter of fact." His eyes darted towards the end of the hallway, where Hermione's room was.

"Oi, that's not funny mate! Why are you wandering through the house at night, making noise and keeping me awake with your light?"

Harry shrugged and whispered "Nox." The hallway went dark again.

"I thought I heard something. Just came to check it out."

"Did you? I heard it too… I thought I was imagining it. Did you know where it came from?" Ron asked. "Maybe Kreacher is up already? A bit early in my opinion."

Harry shook his head. It was barely visible in the darkness but Ron's eyes were accustomed to dark environments, since most of his raids were at night.

"No, Kreacher is at Hogwarts already. I send him there yesterday with my luggage. He's installing my room and office."

"Can't you do that yourself? " Ron asked. It wasn't like Harry to let Kreacher do such things for him.

But Harry didn't have a chance to explain it because both men were startled with another noise, this time more like rumbling. Ron felt a shockwave going right through him. After that, the noise stopped.

"Please tell me you felt that too…" Harry whispered. Ron nodded and raised his wand. Harry followed his example. He gestured to follow him.

"We'll check the rooms on the 3rd floor first, I want to know what the hell that was and what caused it. I don't want to wake or scare the girls though, so you'll have to pick up your Auror skills again for this one, Harry."

"Thought you'd never ask," Harry grinned. "To be honest, I kind of missed the excitement. Teaching is a lot of fun, don't get me wrong and I know I had trouble coping with being an Auror and all, but still…"

"Now is not the time to reminisce, mate. You can do that later. C'mon." Ron whispered, and started to walk towards the end of the hallway, to take the stairs to the 3rd floor.

When they p assed Harry and Ginny's bedroom, Harry pulled at Ron's arm.

"Wait a minute, Ron. I want to check on Ginny. She was asleep when I left, I want to make sure she still is before we go upstairs. And put some extra wards on the door as well." Ron nodded, he understood it perfectly.

"I was planning to do the same with Hermione. Go on, I'll keep an eye out."

Harry didn't take long and after performing some extra protection charms, the two men went further down the hall towards Hermione's room.

Just as Ron tried to open the door, the rumbling sound started again and Ron's blood turned as cold as ice. It came from Hermione's room!

He checked with Harry, who nodded immediately to assure he got his back, and Ron opened the door.

Harry and Ron both gasped at the sight before them.

Hermione was in bed, asleep. Although not very peaceful, because her arms and legs kept twitching and her face was full with worry. She was surrounded by a multicolored light, that beamed off of her, almost like a visible aura.

The furniture in the room was offset, Ron noticed. But not with a purpose, it was like someone just kicked them out of the way. That was probably what they heard as the rumbling sound… the heavy dresser scraping over the wooden floor. But that didn't explain the shockwave they felt?

"Should we wake her up?" Harry asked. "She seems to have a nightmare of some sort."

Ron hesitated. "Not yet. But I think we don't have to check the house anymore. Do you see the furniture? I bet that's what we heard a moment ago."

"Could be. But what about that force we felt afterwards? And that light that surrounds her? I've never seen such a thing." Harry wondered.

"I have." Ron admitted. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"This is raw magic. I saw it in Olson's memory, at the ministry remember? Although this is nothing compared to what I saw then. It's much weaker. But it's still magic and Hermione is causing it."

Ron's mind raced. What did it mean? Was she like this every night? Did she have nightmares before? Why didn't she tell him about them?

"No…" Hermione mumbled. Ron noticed tears on her cheeks. That's it, he was going to wake her up.

"Stop! Please! Stop!" she screamed suddenly. Ron halted immediately, thinking Hermione was yelling at him.

The glow that surrounded her grew larger and brighter. The whole bed was covered in it and Ron felt the temperature in the room going up.

Harry pushed his arm. "Ron! Look at the furniture!"

Ron's suspicions were confirmed, as the rumbling sound began again when the dresser started shoving over the wooden floorboards.

"We have to wake her up! The healers said she can't get very emotional. This is precisely why not!" Ron screamed above the sound.

Harry tried to put an Immobulus charm on the dresser and night stands so they would stop moving but to no avail. He casted a Silencing charm instead.

"Thanks, mate." Ron said, but Hermione started to scream again.

"Please! It hurts! Make it stop!"

Ron tried to catch her arms and started stroking her head. "Hermione! Hermione, love, wake up! It's just a dream. No one is hurting you."

But it didn't work. On the contrary, Hermione's movements got worse. The tears were flowing and she tried to get free out of Ron's firm grasp.

"Harry! Help me out. Could you take over?"

Harry went to the other side of Hermione and grasped both her wrists.

"Ron, her skin… It's burning!"

"I know! I know! Don't worry, that's the magic. Just try and hold her still."

Ron put his hands on Hermione's cheeks and wiped the tears away with his thumbs. She looked so fragile under his large hands.

"Hermione! Please, wake up." He whispered softly. She needed to calm down, so shouting wasn't going to help he thought. "Please? Would you open your eyes for me?" He kept stroking her cheeks.

Harry motioned his head towards the dresser. It stood perfectly still. So were the night stands. Ron sighed relieved. He turned to Hermione.

"Hermione? No one is going to hurt you, I promise. No one. But please wake up."

Hermione's eyes popped open and she bolted upright. She started crying again.

They heard a gasp behind them and their heads shot towards the door.

"What's happening?" Ginny asked. "What's wrong?"

Ron motioned to Harry he could go now, which he did. He took Ginny in his arms and guided her back to their room.

"Hermione?" Ron asked carefully. "Are you alright?"

"Oh Ron!" Hermione cried. To his surprise she threw her arms around his neck and she started sobbing into his shirt.

Ron sat completely flabbergasted for a moment, before his brain caught up and he hugged her back. Hermione grasped his shirt firmly in her fists.

"Hey… It's ok. It was just a nightmare. Quite a big one, to be honest. You scared the hell out of us." He started rubbing circles on her back, in an attempt to soothe her. But she kept crying and shaking.

"Hermione!" Ron tried again. "Hey! It's over, you're safe. No need to be scared anymore."

Hermione released his shirt and tried to wipe away the tears, but they kept coming. Her eyes were becoming red and puffy.

Ron stood up and got the tissue box from her night stand, which was moved all the way across the bedroom by now.

He sat right next to her on the bed and handed her a tissue.

"It's alright. If you want to cry, go ahead. Was it that bad?"

Hermione sniffed. She tried to speak but every time she wanted to say something, she burst out in tears again. Finally she was able to speak.

"It's worse…" she hiccupped. "Way worse."

"I saw it, Ron. All of it. What happened at the mansion and those poor people. What happened to me…" And then she started crying again.

"You mean to say…?" Ron stuttered.

Hermione nodded. "It seems… it seems that my memory is back…"

 **Sorry for the long wait!**

 **Hope it was worth it…**

 **We're going to get some answers soon!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm not planning to abandon this story, the updates just don't come as fluently as I expected.**

 **Partly because I don't have much free time left to write it all down, and partly because my head is so full with so many things that there's not much room left to ponder over my story.**

 **But… here it is, our next chapter.**

 **A special thanks to my Beta-reader ObsessedRHShipper, who helped me make some decisions about the plot development and get all the translation errors out. (Another reminder that English is not my first language; it's actually my third, after Dutch and French)**

 **I'm a FF-writer who immediately publishes the chapters after I'm finished writing them. So when you're reading this, I have yet to start with writing the next chapter. Most of the time, I'm not even sure what's going to happen. The general plot stays the same of course, but I just want to explain why it takes so long to update sometimes.**

 **As for the comments on the length of the last chapter… come on, I always post chapters between 1700 and 3000 words. The last one was 2200 so it was within my usual standards.**

 **I want to thank everyone who left a review the last couple of months, especially because they're all so lovely and encouraging!**

 **Keeping in mind that this is my first fanfiction story, I consider myself very lucky.**

 **I'm very nervous to post this one, because it explains basically everything and I'm really anxious to know what you guys think of it.**

 **2** **nd** **reminder: this is an AU story, please remember that when you read this!**

When Hermione had calmed down, she and Ron went downstairs to the living room. Neither of them wanted to go back to sleep and Hermione figured he would want to hear what she had to say.

He made her a cup of tea, which she accepted gratefully.

"Don't you want one?" she had asked him, but he shook his head.

"I'm good. Do you want something to eat? I was going to make some sandwiches." Ron asked while turning towards the kitchen.

"Sandwiches? It's almost 3 o'clock in the morning?" Hermione wondered. Ron shrugged and went to the kitchen anyway, returning five minutes later with a plate full of bacon sandwiches.

"There's always time for bacon," he laughed. Hermione couldn't help herself and rolled with her eyes.

She kept quiet while Ron ate his sandwiches. She knew she would have to tell him everything eventually, but she decided it was better to savor this moment together. For all she knew, it could be the last one.

She saw Ron hesitate now and then, obviously trying to get the conversation started, but not knowing what to say.

"I'm sorry I scared you and Harry," she whispered, clutching her cup with both hands. The tea was cold now, but she was glad she had something to busy her hands.

Ron sighed and dropped his sandwich back on the plate. He looked at her, smiling softly.

"It's not like you could've helped it, Hermione."

"I know, but… still… I'm sorry." She clutched her cup a little firmer, not noticing her knuckles went white. She stared into the cold liquid for a while until she saw a freckled hand appear, which took the cup out of her hands.

She looked up and stared right into Ron's dark blue eyes. He was sitting on the coffee table, and took her hands into his after placing the cup next to him.

"You were going to hurt yourself. The cup didn't do anything wrong… I think."

Hermione smiled. Ron always seemed able to lighten the mood. She met his questioning gaze, straightened her back and sighed. She didn't remove her hands out of his, though. She didn't mind that at all, the warmth of his hands was quite comforting actually. She liked the physical contact too, if she was honest. Over the last couple of days they seemed to warm up to each other. They were always friendly from the beginning, but there was still a kind of reservation towards one another. But the last week, they were getting more 'physical'. Arms brushing slightly against each other, Ron leaning in while she was reading to see which book it was… and let's not forget, just fifteen minutes ago, she practically threw herself at him.

But Ron didn't seem to mind all that, and neither did she. It could all just be normal behavior between friends, but Hermione liked to think there could be more behind it. But first things first, she sighed.

"I…" she started, but she immediately felt the tears coming back. She swallowed to hold them in and stared at the ceiling, but she should've known that that didn't fool Ron.

"It's okay. Take your time. I'm not going anywhere." He pinched her hands softly and started rubbing them with his thumbs.

"I'm not…" she hesitated. "I'm not who you think I am." Ron stayed quiet, but she felt him stiffen a bit. He also stopped rubbing her hands.

"You know me as Hermione Granger, muggleborn witch. Or at least, that's what you guess I am…", she continued. "A couple of years ago I changed my name to Hermione Granger, but my birth name is Ivanna Hélène Rookwood."

At the mention of her last name, Ron flinched and let go of her hands.

"Ron, please…" she begged. She didn't dare to retrieve his hands, and placed a hand on his knee instead. Thankfully Ron didn't pull back and she took that as a sign she could continue with her story. But Ron interrupted her.

"You mean to say that… you're the daughter of Augustus Rookwood? The death eater?" It was Hermione's turn to flinch. She had hoped that there might be a chance Ron didn't know who her father was or what he had done. She knew the odds were very small, but it would've made things a lot easier.

"Yes, he was my father," she sighed in response. "But I want to clear this up from the start, Ron. You have to believe me, I wanted nothing to do with him and his death eater activities. Nothing!" She felt the stinging in her eyes again and tried to calm down. It was very important that Ron knew she wasn't like her father.

To her relief, she saw Ron smiling. "Let's say I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here. To be honest… I don't think you could be like your father. But continue, please… tell me what happened to you."

Hermione returned his smile and repositioned herself in the armchair.

"All right, so you know my real name, but like I said, I changed it a couple of years ago to Hermione Granger. Granger is the name of a family friend of the Virellis and I saw the name Hermione in one of the books at the mansion. I didn't want to leave any connection with him. I… uhm… I abandoned him after I turned eighteen, and before the battle of Hogwarts."

Ron raised his eyebrows.

"What?" Hermione challenged. Ron stood up from the coffee table.

"Nothing. I just… I'm not used to you talking about magic like it's the most natural thing in the world. You mentioning Hogwarts or the battle took me a bit by surprise. Six hours ago you didn't know anything about magic except for the things I taught you." He went through his hair with his left hand, while the right one grabbed her cup from the table. "You want another cup of tea?"

She nodded. "That would be lovely. I'll help you."

She joined him in the kitchen, and wanted to put the kettle on when Ron stopped her. "You make tea the muggle way?"

"Force of habit, I guess. I'll explain later." She took a seat at the kitchen table, took an apple out of the fruit bowl and twisted it in her hands.

"When I was a child, I was raised differently than you. Augustus was a follower of Voldemort and despised muggles and muggleborns, and he taught me the same. My mother was not so fanatical, she followed him because she was afraid of my father. Like many pureblood marriages, their marriage was arranged. I don't think she ever loved him." Hermione tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Talking about her mother always had that effect. "Anyway, when I turned eleven, my Hogwarts letter came. I remember it very distinctly because it was the first time I heard my parents fighting. Augustus didn't want to send me to a school where they allowed muggleborns. He talked about sending me to Durmstrang instead." She paused again when she heard the kettle whistle.

Ron took it off the stove and poured the hot water in the cups, adding the tea leaves.

"So…you went to Durmstrang?" Ron asked after taking a sip. Hermione noticed the disapproving undertone of his question.

"No, I did not. Thanks to my mother, who had the guts to stand up to him that night. It took him a couple of days to come around but eventually they agreed to let me stay at home. I was homeschooled by my mother. I'm very grateful she stood up for me, but I really wished I could've gone to Hogwarts. I read the articles about all the events, so I know what you've been up to Ron Weasley. I believe you had quite an entertaining education." Hermione grinned.

"You could say that, yeah." Ron agreed. "But I would do it all again in a heartbeat."

"My mother didn't share his ideas on muggles. So whenever he was away on a Death Eater mission or doing Merlin knows what for Voldemort, we went to a village nearby, mingling with the local muggles. I loved it! That's where we met the Virelli family. They were halfbloods, as you know, but they weren't like the other magical families I've met before. They lived like muggles to protect themselves, being labeled as blood traitors during the first Wizarding War. We visited them very often… I learned too late what an immense risk my mother took every time we went there, but that didn't stop her." Hermione placed the apple back in the bowl and started drinking her tea. She braced herself for the upcoming part of her story, knowing how difficult this part was going to be.

"So my childhood wasn't so bad. Luckily Augustus wasn't home very often and the house elves didn't dare to tell him anything about our activities in the village. In contrast to Augustus, we treated them very well. It all changed a couple weeks after my 17th birthday. I woke up in the middle of the night, hearing my parents fighting over something. I immediately knew there was something wrong. Augustus was yelling fiercely and my mother was crying and screaming." She felt a tear escape and wiped it away with her sleeve. It didn't do much because the second and third tear appeared almost immediately and within seconds, Hermione was full out crying again. Ron laid his hand atop of hers to comfort her.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine Hermione. Really… We can continue our conversation in the morning. You don't have to do this right now."

Hermione sniffed and shook her head.

"No… No, I have to do this. You deserve answers; you've treated me so well the last couple of weeks. And I have to do this again in the future, multiple times in fact so I better get used to it." She wanted Ron to know everything, every little detail. If she had to act as a witness in this case, he could help her out during her statement if it got too hard. But then it dawned on her.

"Aren't you supposed to write this down? Or record it with your wand? You're the one handling both cases so _you_ have to take my statement…"

"Not yet, I don't want to pressure you. And I want to hear the whole story before I decide what to do next."

Hermione hesitated. She didn't know what to think of his words. It felt like he was saying something else… but what?

"I kept myself hidden in the hallway because I knew how unpredictable he could be. My mother, despite her courage and skills, isn't capable of fighting him off… I wanted to be close by to intervene if necessary." Hermione explained. She smiled absentmindedly. "You know, I'm quite skilled with a wand."

"Never doubted that," Ron cut in.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry I was such a burden to you the last couple of weeks. I kept you quite busy with all my fainting, secrets and stuff did I? If only I had my wand when that creep got to me." She shuddered.

Ron patted her hand again. "You handled that pretty well, as I recall. Even if you had your wand, you still suffered from your memory loss so you weren't better off with it."

"Shall I continue the story of poor Miss Rookwood?" She sighed. "I hate that name. People always have an opinion on you, based on your family name. Even you had the same reaction everyone else has when they hear it."

"We fought Rookwood in the battle of Hogwarts. He was there. I don't know if he's been killed though. We, and by that I mean the Aurors, we chased a lot of surviving Death Eaters after the war, but there are still a handful that were never caught. One of them is your father… Hermione?"

Hermione's hand, which was about to take her cup of tea, froze halfway. She laid it back in her lap, along with her other hand and started to look everywhere except at Ron. Eventually, she talked again.

"I think I'll continue what's still left to tell. It will all become clear, I promise."

Ron nodded, and levitated their cups to the sink.

"So when I was hiding in our hallway, I heard flashes of what my parents were yelling at each other. Apparently Augustus returned to our house to collect me… to take me to Voldemort and become one of them. A Death Eater. Since I was older I became more useful and well… being bright and clever is not always a good quality. Augustus had bragged about me. Of course my mother wouldn't hear any of it. So she refused…" She sniffed and took a paper towel to blow her nose in. "I'm sorry. I'm still struggling to talk about this."

Ron said nothing, he only gave her an encouraging smile.

"My mother didn't have her wand on her that time. So she tried to stop him with her bare hands, she was able to take him down when he tried to go upstairs. He was so angry with her, but I don't believe he actually wanted to kill her… He threw a Blasting Curse at her, and she was thrown towards one of our massive book cases. She… she didn't survive it." Hermione started shaking when she was trying to hold in her tears. Ron didn't hesitate and gathered her into his arms.

"Shhh… It's all right." He started stroking her hair. "I lost a brother four years ago, during the battle of Hogwarts. I know how you feel."

"It's never going to be easy, is it?" She whispered into his shirt. Ron said nothing at first, fighting the urge to kiss her head. Somehow it felt natural to hold her this close.

"It never will be, I guess. Losing someone you love is never easy."

"Can we go back to the living room?" she asked. Ron nodded.

Once they were in the living room, Ron sat down in the small loveseat. Hermione hesitated for a bit, until she decided to just go with it and went to sit next to him. After a couple of seconds, she put her head on his shoulder. It was easier for her to tell the last bit without seeing his reaction.

"I managed to escape the house without being seen. The only thing I had with me was my wand and the clothes I was wearing. I ran to the Virellis, it was the first place I could think of. When I told them what happened, they told me I could hide there. But I knew Augustus was going to look for me. Too bad for him I knew the ways they track the people they want to find. It's similar to the Trace they put on children under seventeen, but instead they place it on anyone they want. Whenever this person uses magic, the caster of the spell is being warned. That's how they locate everyone. It kind of works like the Taboo as well. All members of the Virelli family had a magical shell surrounding them, which prevented the Trace to work on them. But just to be sure, they didn't use magic at all. They were the ones who casted the shell around me. I asked them to. And to be sure I wasn't tempted to use my wand, I… I broke it."

"You broke your own wand? Wow…" Ron whistled.

"I did. But it was crucial that I never used magic again, not until Voldemort was defeated. I knew the Prophecy and I had faith in Harry and you. So I just had to wait basically. Augustus didn't find me and I kept living at the Virellis. I stayed indoors, I couldn't risk it to be recognized by any of Voldemort's followers, that's why I changed my name as well. When the Battle of Hogwarts was over, I was so relieved. But I couldn't find any records on Augustus being killed, so I wanted to stay hidden. He killed my mother! How could I be sure he didn't want to kill me too for betraying him? So I decided I would keep living like a muggle. I rented my own place, but kept visiting the Virellis as often as I could. I started working at this little coffee place nearby, and finally I started to enjoy my own life again. Until two months ago."

"What happened that night?" Ron asked softly. Hermione sat up straight, as if she wanted to brace herself.

"I was on my way to the Virellis when there was a raid… hHeThey were looking for me, Ron. Which I still don't understand. It's been four years! I don't even know how they got in, the whole mansion was charmed. They tortured them to reveal my location…" Hermione stopped and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "I still hear their screams. It was horrible. I saw it all happen through one of the windows downstairs, and without any hesitation I went inside. They were looking for me! So that's what they got."

Ron nudged her shoulder with his arm. "You know, you would've made a nice Gryffindor. Despite that, that was the stupidest and most dangerous thing you could've done!"

"I know. But I didn't want them to suffer because of me! It didn't help, they killed each and every one of them like it was the most normal thing to do. They called them blood traitors and muggle lovers… and then their attention was shifted towards me…"

"Was that what your dreams were about?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded. "But they didn't kill you…?"

Hermione shuddered. She started to get rather cold.

"No… one of the men came towards me after they all had cast a Torturing spell on me. It was Augustus… they were all wearing masks and I was this close of collapsing, but I immediately recognized his eyes. He acted completely different. He told the others to burn the house down and that he would take care of me. He grabbed my hair and pulled me out of my chair and raised his wand. I thought he was going to kill me… but he didn't."

"He's the one that obliviated you…?" Ron gasped.

"It has to be… the next thing I know I was found by your colleagues, not remembering a single thing about the magical world."

Ron whistled. "Well… that _is_ quite a story. It clears a lot of things up… But we still don't know who the other men were. Or where your father is."

"Frankly, I don't care right now Ron." She snuggled against his shoulder again. "I just want to try and process it all. I lost another family…"

Ron mentally kicked himself for letting his Auror-self surface. The case could wait. Hermione was more important right now. She was right; she just lost another family, for Merlin's sake.

He put his arm around her, trying to comfort her. He heard her sighing. After a while he heard her breathing slowing down, since she fell asleep. Sometimes her breathing would hitch, as a result of all the crying she had done this night.

He absentmindedly started to rub her back. It was his turn to ponder over things. What was he going to tell Jollins in the morning? What was the deal with her house being jinxed? Was it safe for her to return there? Would she want to return?

Ron felt a pang of sadness with the thought of Hermione leaving.

Perhaps he had to admit to himself… no, could it? At that moment Hermione turned on her back, and her head dropped into his lap. She inhaled deeply and snuggled closer.

He too sighed contently, wrapping his arm around her waist.

Alright then… I admit, he thought. I'm falling for her…

 **Wow… That was my longest chapter ever!**

 **I'm really curious what you think of this. Was it what you expected? Did you miss anything?**

 **This story isn't over! More to come and since the whole case-related plot is out in the open, there is more room to cover Romione and a couple of subplots I've been thinking about.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for the long wait! Almost three months…I'm so, so sorry!**

 **I was stuck with the story, didn't know how to go on after everything was explained.**

 **And when I finally knew how to go on with the story, my boss fell sick and she's not going to return anytime soon. So to say it's quite busy at work is an understatement…**

 **I finally found some time to write it all down and my lovely Beta, ObsessedRHShipper was so nice to revise it the same day as I send it to her so here we are… the next chapter!**

When Ron woke up the next day, he needed a minute to focus. He found himself on the sofa in the living room… That wasn't the first time, but he had a hard time remembering _why_ he was there and not in his own bed. Until he heard someone in the kitchen rumbling in the cabinets and the whole conversation from the previous night hit him like a bludger. Hermione!

Or rather… Hélène. Fucking hell, the daughter of Rookwood! He did not see that coming. He rubbed his face and decided to visit the loo first and freshen up, before he went to the kitchen to meet Hermione. That was going to be an awkward conversation. She knew he was supposed to meet Jollins today and decide what to do next. To be honest, he himself didn't know for sure what to do.

While he tiptoed to the loo in an attempt not to get noticed, he pondered over his actions. In his opinion, she still needed protection - someone to keep an eye on her, but he knew Jollins wouldn't follow his thoughts.

It took her father several years before he resurfaced and exposed himself. He was still a wanted criminal, but didn't harm Hermione. Why was that? And why did he erase her memory while his plan was first to kill her?

He decided to take a quick shower to clear his mind. There were too many questions left.

As he dried his hair and body, he thought of something. What if she wanted to move back into her house and pick her life back up? He felt a pang of sadness in his chest. He wouldn't want her to leave…

Last night he finally admitted to himself that he had started to have feelings for her. He just figured that out, and then she would leave? He reassured himself that just because she would be moving back into her own house again didn't mean that she wouldn't want to see him anymore. Besides… when did he turn into a softie? He was Auror Weasley for Merlin's sake… Big, red-haired, impressive and the best of the best - not some schmuck pining over a girl. And yet here he was doing precisely that.

So it was with a rather cautious mind that he walked down the stairs, bracing himself for whatever the day was going to bring him, when he heard voices coming out of the kitchen. More than one…

He heard Hermione laughing so he wasn't on full alert, but the other laugh that followed made him stop mid-step. _His mum_.

What was _she_ doing here? How did she get here? He thundered down the stairs and hurried himself to the kitchen to do as much damage control as possible. He knew his mum and he was absolutely positive that she would drag as much information out of Hermione as she could.

He found the two of them sitting at the kitchen table, drinking tea and so it seemed, in a friendly conversation.

They both greeted him with a smile, Hermione rather shy and his mother in full Molly-mode. This meant there was trouble ahead. For him. Bugger.

"Morning mum," he said as he kissed her on the cheek. He turned towards Hermione, hesitated and then nodded "Miss Granger." He didn't know what Hermione had told his mother so he had to be cautious. She looked confused but didn't say anything about it. He would explain later. First, he had to get his mother out of the house.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" he asked Molly.

As he sat down at the table, Hermione stood up and started to make breakfast. This got a surprising look from his mother and he felt the questions burn at the tip of her tongue, but she didn't ask them. Yet.

"Don't be ridiculous Ron. I'm here because you didn't show up when Harry and Ginny left this morning. Harry said you had a rough couple of weeks at work, which I would've known if you bothered to visit the Burrow. So I came to check on you." Molly fussed.

Fuck! He missed Harry's departure for Hogwarts! He glanced at the clock; it was almost noon… Harry would understand. He even gave him an excuse for his absence this morning. That made him feel even worse… He wouldn't be seeing his best mate for a few months and he didn't even make the effort of saying goodbye. The new school year wasn't starting until the 1st of September, so maybe he could visit him at Hogwarts before then.

"Sorry mum, I just had a lot on my mind lately. Working on a big case, you know." He faked a yawn.

"Nonsense. You work too hard, Ron! I was going to ask you to come back to the Burrow, I don't like the idea of you living alone without Harry around. You don't take care of yourself. But I can see that you are being well cared for…?" She eyed Hermione who gave him his plate of eggs, toast and bacon with a flushed face.

Ron couldn't help but smile. She looked absolutely adorable like that.

What was that look on his mother's face? Oh… no, no, no! Don't get your hopes up, woman!

"Hermione, would you give us a moment please?" he asked her. She looked relieved to leave the room so he didn't have to ask her twice.

"Mum, that is Hermione Granger. She's part of a witness protection program. I'm the one who handles her case. She's here because she's in danger and needs 24 hour protection. Alright…? A _work_ related stay." He explained.

"Sure, dear. Whatever you say," she smiled knowingly. Ron knew she wouldn't let this go.

"I will leave you two alone then, so you can go back to _work_. Come to the Burrow for dinner tonight alright? We miss you." She grabbed her bag and went to the living room to take the Floo home.

"Oh and Ron," Molly said before she threw the powder at her feet, "bring Hermione with you."

Ron gave a frustrated yell. Merlin, that woman was exhausting!

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked. He didn't even notice she was sitting in the armchair, curled up with a book.

"Nothing… my mother just doesn't know when she has to let things go. Or when she sees things that aren't there. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?" she asked, closing her book.

"For my mother of course. I hope she didn't embarrass you or something. She can be quite persistent." He sat down next to her on the armrest.

"No, not at all. I think she's a lovely person. She just scared me a bit when she showed up with Ginny."

So that's how she got through the Floo wards. He had to talk to his sister about it. A fair warning was the least she could've done.

"So," she said suddenly. "Where are we going tonight?"

Ron raised his eyebrows. " _We_ aren't going anywhere. Just to the Auror office this afternoon and that's it."

"But… your mother said to bring me with you. What was that all about?"

Bloody hell! She was as persistent and stubborn as his mother. Were all women like that?

"My dear mother had put the idea in her head that we are in some kind of relationship. A romantic relationship, that is. That's how she explained your presence here. I tried to convince her otherwise, but she just wouldn't let it drop. That's what she does, I'm afraid."

Ron noticed her expression faltering. "Because I'm only here for work related things, of course…"

"Yes." _No…_ "Yes, of course. The only way to keep you as safe as possible is to keep you as close as possible. Even if that means that I can't leave my own home to visit my family, which is why we can't go to my mother's."

Hermione's face became suddenly unreadable.

"Well then," she said coldly, "let's go to the Auror Office, shall we? Then you'll get your life back and I'm completely out of your way."

Where the hell did that came from? Ron tried to think of something that could've caused her mood swing, but ended up with nothing.

They were currently sitting in the hallway of the Auror Office, waiting for Jollins to call them in.

She hadn't said a word since they left Grimmauld Place. He had made a joke or two in the last couple of minutes, but she simply ignored him.

He was going to ask her if he had said or done something to upset her, when the door opened and Jollins head yelled at him.

"Weasley! Come in!"

Ron gestured towards Hermione and went to enter Jollins' office, but he wouldn't let him.

"No, Weasley, just you, Miss Granger has to stay where she is."

Before he could say something, Hermione sat back in her seat, crossed her arms and legs and looked the other way. Great…

"Sir, I'm not comfortable with the idea of her sitting alone and unprotected. We're going to discuss _her_ case, after all. Surely she can come with me?" Ron tried.

Jollins barked a laugh. "Look around, Weasley. Aurors all around. Not a safer place in the world if you ask me. She'll be fine."

Ron reluctantly entered his office, taking one last look at a completely indifferent Hermione and closed the door.

Hermione sat in her chair, waiting.

She knew she was exaggerating, but she couldn't help herself. In the last couple of days, she was under the impression that Ron was warming up to her. He responded surprisingly well when she told him about her history and what happened. She was so afraid he would treat her the way she expected him to treat her father... but he didn't. He was understanding and comforting.

When his mother was visiting, he had looked at her like those men did in the movies she watched with the Virellis. Like she was everything he ever wanted. But then out of nowhere, he wanted her to leave him alone. And as soon as his mother left, he acted completely different, claiming she was only there because of the case. He even accused her of keeping him away from his family, keeping him locked up. Like being with her was a punishment!

She was feeling so silly. She never meant anything to him. She was nothing more than some work he had to take home.

Was this the last time she would see him? She couldn't even go with him. They were discussing _her_ fate in there, and she wasn't even a part of it.

One of the aurors came towards her, asking if she wanted something to drink. She declined, out of habit. If she wanted something, she could get it herself.

Hermione stood up and stretched her legs. How much longer? She felt like she was sitting here for hours.

At that moment the door opened and Ron and Jollins walked outside. She immediately noticed that Ron wasn't very pleased. Maybe she had to stay with him just a while longer… She suppressed the spark of happiness she felt with the foresight of going back home with Ron, because clearly he wasn't happy with it. They talked some more and then finally, Ron came towards her.

"Come!" he barked at her. Well she could play the same game, mister!

"Where are we going?" She snapped.

"It seems that my mother is getting her way… as usual. I'm shifting you somewhere else."

So that was it. No goodbye, nothing. She was just a package that needed to be dropped off somewhere else. Good riddance, as it seems.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, barely keeping her voice even.

Ron turned towards her and she thought she saw a hint of a smile, but it probably was only her mind playing tricks on her.

"We're going to the Burrow…"

 **Poor, poor Hermione. Getting all the signals wrong! That's what we sometimes do, I'm afraid. And so does Hermione.**

 **So… we're not any wiser as it seems. And that's for a reason.**

 **Apparently we're heading to the Burrow in the next chapter. Why? Ron will explain it to Hermione/Hélène and to all of us.**

 **I want to thank all of you for the lovely reviews. I got plenty of pm's in the last three months of people begging me to update, so I know there are a lot of you that are following this story and I couldn't be more grateful.**

 **Some of you wanted to know if this was going to be a novel-length story and I don't want to disappoint you, but I think there's only a couple of chapters left. I don't want to drag it out, and I think that if this story is told… It's told. Period.**

 **Did you like this update? Leave a review!**

 **If you didn't like it… I'm sorry that you feel this way, send me a pm and we can talk about it!**


	13. Chapter 13

**The usual disclaimer is in order here: I don't own any of the HP characters; I just like to play with them.**

 **Another update, this one took me a while because apparently I'm much better in creating danger and suspense than creating a romantic mood** **J**

 **I hope I did okay though, so let me know what you think about it!**

 **Sorry for the ones that were hoping for another plot-development, this chapter is quite calm!**

The Burrow was something Hermione had never heard or seen before. It was as welcoming as it was overwhelming, but she found it all fascinating. She found it hard to follow Ron's mood swings and was glad that she had something else to occupy her mind.

Ron, for his part, kept a close eye on Hermione. He eyed all her reactions, afraid to see something he wouldn't like. He now could explain that feeling; he wanted her to fall in love with the place he called home because he liked her. A lot. It seems like he liked her more and more each day. He didn't care for her background story. Sure, he was shocked to hear her father's name, but he knew instantly she was nothing like her father and his companions.

After he gave her the tour of the house, they sat at the kitchen table with his mother, telling her what he could about the case. If she was going to stay at the Burrow, his mum should know about the danger Hermione was in and the need for her to be somewhere safe.

"I already told you Hermione is involved in one of my cases. We went to the head office this morning to give Jollins a heads up. That's where he told me the case was being closed because of this development. She isn't in any immediate danger, the ancient magic is gone, her memory is back and they now know what happened that night." Ron explained to his mother and Hermione, without revealing to much information. Only need to know.

"But what about her father?" Molly asked. Ron slammed the table, making Hermione jump from the sudden noise.

"See?" Ron said a tad too loud, swaying his hand towards his mother. "That's exactly what I said to Jollins. But he thinks her father means her no harm because he didn't kill her when he had the chance. Load of rubbish!"

"There's no need to shout, Ron. You know she will be safe here, and I'll make sure she's never alone," Molly shushed him.

Hermione quickly intervened, "Oh no, mrs. Weasley, please. I don't want to be a burden. I'm sure I can just go to my own place again."

"Nonsense, dear. And please, like I said before, call me Molly. I'd be delighted to have you here. It's been too quiet during the week when Arthur's at work."

Ron looked at Hermione with a stern look, while shaking his head. What on earth was she thinking? Didn't she realise the kind of danger she was in, even now?

Hermione felt a heavy weight drop down in her shoes when she noticed Ron's facial expression. Why was he so aggravated with her? She was touched that he brought her to his own childhood home and thought it to be a sign that he wanted to stick around. But now he was clearly upset. How could she keep up with that?

After their talk, they had lunch together, and Ron had to go back to the Ministry to get briefed on his next case. This left Hermione alone under Molly's care. It wasn't hard to notice that the Weasley matriarch was a very warm and loving woman. Hermione tried to assist in the preparations for dinner, but couldn't do much because she didn't have a wand. Molly noticed that she was kind of lost and didn't know what to do.

"Why don't you take a walk in the garden and explore it? We have a pond, chicken coop, a yard with vegetables, an orchard. On your way back you can bring the eggs for the cake I want to make for dessert. Just don't go outside the wards."

"Will do… Molly," she answered smiling.

It was a lovely day, not too cold and before she walked outside, she went to the living room to browse all of the books on the shelves. She grabbed a couple of them that looked interesting enough and went outside.

After her walk through the property, she headed towards the orchard. She searched for a comfortable spot under a tree to read the books she brought with her. After a while she found an apple tree behind a dirt road that stood all by itself.

"It's a perfect spot," Hermione thought and settled down.

When Ron came home later that day, he was glad to be there. He was anxious all afternoon, not knowing if Hermione was safe. Would he ever be sure that she was truly safe? Not as long as her father wasn't in Azkaban. He was assigned to a new case, which wasn't anything dangerous or time consuming so he thought he could start a new investigation into Hermione's case on his own. He was also anxious because he promised himself he would talk with Hermione this evening. He'd noticed her change in behaviour at the Ministry and she kept acting distant towards him the entire morning.

He found his mother in the kitchen – no surprise there – but Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Trying very hard to ignore all the alarm bells that were going off inside his head, he greeted his mum and asked where she was.

"She's still outside. I told her to take a walk and she left right after you did. Oh would you relax, Ron," Molly said when she saw Ron trying to protest, "I told her to stay within the wards. She's fine. You can't keep her locked indoors forever. Give her some space."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'll go and find her so we can start dinner."

Molly shook her head knowingly. That son of hers was head over heels, and she loved it. It was about time something like this happened. She couldn't wait to tell Arthur about it.

Ron stepped outside and looked around. It was close to dinner time, so he found it odd that Hermione had not returned already.

After a while he reached the orchard, and still hadn't found Hermione. He was starting to get really worried and called for her.

"Hermione!"

No answer.

"Hermione? Where are you?"

This doesn't feel right, Ron thought. He ran towards the broom shed, grabbed his old Cleansweep and took off.

He decided to follow the wards and work his way towards the house, to cover every inch of the Burrow.

When he reached the very end of the property a couple of minutes later, he noticed her. The relief he felt was instantly overthrown by the realisation she was in fact outside the wards and she lay slumped against a tree, amidst a pile of books.

He guided his Cleansweep towards the ground and leaped off of it before he was completely down, desperate to get to her as fast as he could.

"Hermione?" he called, falling on his knees beside her limp body. To his immense relief he noticed she'd only fallen asleep and was unharmed.

"Hermione, wake up," he said while he shook her awake. She groaned and tried to push him away.

"Hermione, if you don't wake up and come with me, I'll pick you up and carry you back into the wards! You know I will!"

Hermione opened her eyes, but she didn't get the chance to look around. Ron had already swooped her up in his arms and carried her away from the tree.

"Ron, wait! I have to take the books. Would you wait for one second? Ron! Put me down!" Hermione struggled but Ron was too strong. He flicked his wand and the books flew back towards the house.

"There. Sorted," he said.

When they crossed the dirt road and entered the orchard, Ron halted and put her back on her feet. It wasn't the first he'd held her this close, but it felt different. He had a hard time keeping his breathing steady. But one look at Hermione and he knew she didn't find the experience as pleasant as he did.

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked irritated, putting her hands on her hips.

"Me? What's wrong with me? Really? You want to know, Hermione?" Ron said irritated. "You really want to know? You promised my mother you wouldn't go outside the wards. But you did! Do you know how dangerous that was for you? Do you even care? Your father, Death Eaters, anyone could've seen you! How am I supposed to keep you safe when you won't ever listen?"

Hermione took a step back. She didn't want to argue with him, so she tried to apologise.

"I'm sorry… I… I didn't know exactly where the wards stopped. I saw that tree and thought it was a part of the orchard. I'm sorry if I upset you. I didn't mean to."

Ron took a couple of breaths before he took a seat in the grass. It was starting to glimmer and his dad was probably home now but he wasn't ready to go back yet. He motioned at Hermione to come and join him.

She sat right next to him and Ron could feel the tension build up again, just like he had felt when he held her. He rubbed his neck and wondered how he could tell her the things he wanted to say. He watched her stare into the distance, unknowingly plucking the grass.

"Ron, can I ask you something?" she suddenly asked.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"Why am I here?"

"What do you mean?"

"My case is closed. You don't have to protect me anymore. You said so yourself this afternoon. So… why did you bring me here?"

Because I don't want to leave you. Because I care about you. But he couldn't say that, now could he. Not yet at least. So he told her the other reason.

"It's the only place I can keep you safe when I'm not around. You could stay in Grimmauld Place by yourself, but not for long. Jollins said that I need to take other cases, and go on other missions. So there's a good possibility I'll be gone for a few days. Here at the Burrow, you have my parents to watch over you. And to be honest… I would be much more at ease when you're here during my absence."

Hermione thought about that for a moment. Maybe she was wrong after all.

"I thought you were sick of looking after me. Because you were angry when you left Jollins' office and you're angry with me now. I thought you hated the idea of spending more time with me," she admitted.

Why would she say that? Did she really think that little of him? He thought he was a bit too obvious when he scooped her up in the orchard. It wasn't something he would do with anyone, but with her it just felt natural. Which was a good thing, he guessed.

Ron nudged her arm playfully. "No, none of that. Like I said before, I was angry he took me of your case. I still think you're in danger, despite what anyone else says. I couldn't leave you just like that, depending only on yourself. You don't have a wand to defend yourself."

Hermione smiled at him and Ron sighed. "You should stay here for a while. I'll try and find more information about your father. Now that we know he's the one behind this, maybe we can really close this case so you no longer have to hide."

"That sounds really good. No more hiding…" Hermione mused.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you something too. I can guess what your answer is going to be, but are you going to keep the name Hermione Granger?"

"Definitely. I like it and I don't want to keep a name that reminds me of my father. Ivanna Rookwood is gone for good."

Ron stood up and hold his hand out for Hermione to take, which she did. When she was on her feet, she startled at the proximity between them. She could almost feel his breath on her face. Her heart raced and she found it difficult to keep her breathing steady. She had to admit that he was getting under her skin, in the most positive way possible.

Ron was equally mesmerized by her. She was so close, her lips a few inches from his. It would take only a tiny movement of his head and he could kiss her. And he wanted to. He really did. But this tiny voice in the back of his head kept repeating that he shouldn't. She just lost her family and it would feel like he took advantage of her grief. He should wait.

So Ron swallowed heavily, and tried to find his voice. He had a hard time keeping it even.

"Maybe we should go inside. Dinner is probably ready by now."

Hermione sighed before she nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea."

She really thought for a moment he would kiss her. And she would've let him. But before he did so, she saw something flicker in his eyes. Like he changed his mind at the very last moment. Was it because he realised who she really was? Would he ever be able to look past her family heritage? She really hoped he did, and in the meanwhile she would enjoy his company.

So they both went back to the Burrow feeling a bit disappointed, completely oblivious to a grinning Molly who was standing near the chicken coop, eggs in her hands and barely containing her excitement.


	14. Chapter 14

**Again I need to apologize for the long delay of posting this chapter. A monthly update is the best I can do for now I'm afraid.**

 **I lost my dad at the beginning of December. It was a complete shock since he was just 57 years old and I couldn't function right or try to think of happy things. But now, things have started to be fairly normal again. Life goes on as one knows, and I have to as well.**

 **So I dived into my happy place, the lovely HP world and I finished this chapter, gave it to my wonderful Beta ObsessedRHShipper et voila…**

 **I want to explain something too. I got a pm from someone – who I shall not name – that the 'aftermath' is being dragged out and that there's nothing really happening anymore. If there are others who feel the same way, please just wait until the whole story is finished. It will all become clear, I promise. The previous chapter and this one doesn't have any real plot development but they're as important as the other ones. Just bear with me please** **J**

 **Also, you may have noticed that I published another story called "Blijvende herinneringen". It's only the translation of this story in Dutch, my own language. I got a few requests to translate it, so I'm working on that.**

 **Happy reading and happy holidays!**

A couple of days after her arrival at the Burrow, Ron went to Ollivanders with Hermione to buy her a new wand. He didn't want to take any risks so they apparated into one of the large storage rooms, so no one would know that they were there. He was glad to see the old wand maker again. He wasn't the same man he was before the war and he had to hire someone to assist in the shop, but he was still very good at his job. In no time, they had found the perfect match for Hermione.

Hermione was thrilled to have a wand again. After all those years living like a muggle, she thought her magical abilities would be rusty, but as soon as she held her new wand she felt the magic flow through her.

When they returned to the Burrow, she was glad that she could be of real use in the kitchen and do something in return for the Weasleys. Molly was more than willing to teach her some household spells as well.

Her excitement about being able to use magic again was quickly overshadowed by the fact that Ron was behaving oddly towards her.

He threw himself into his work, and was away on missions practically all the time. Even when he was on paper duty, he was always too late for dinner and she barely got to see him. It really got on her nerves and after a few weeks of waiting for him to get over whatever was bothering him, she had enough. Since he locked himself up in his room on the rare occasion that he was home, she saw no other option than to go there and confront him.

She knew she was overthinking this whole situation but she couldn't suppress that nagging feeling that maybe he was getting tired of her. So she found the perfect statement to get his attention. In the hope he didn't take her seriously…

She waited until Molly and Arthur went to bed, leaving her alone in the living room. Ron was, as usual, in his room on the top floor.

He didn't go to work today, and he only came downstairs this morning for breakfast. He had eaten his food in such a hurry that Hermione was too appalled by his awful table manners to speak.

She climbed the stairs all the way up and halted right in front of his door. She couldn't hear a sound. She thought briefly that he was already sleeping, but then she noticed the faint glow surrounding the door, which meant that he used a silencing charm. She hadn't lied when she had told Ron that she was skilled in her wandwork. She took her wand out of her back pocket, and all the spells that were put on that door were lifted in an instant.

She listened, but couldn't hear much except for some shuffling. He was still awake. Her hand went for the door knob, but she stopped right before she touched it. Just barging in wasn't exactly her style and she didn't want to invade his privacy.

So instead of opening the door, she knocked three times. She knew he would probably ignore her or try to get rid of her, but he would quickly find out that she was quite stubborn if she wanted something.

"Ron?"

The shuffling stopped. She heard him mumbling and a few seconds later the door opened a couple of inches and his head came out.

"Hermione? Why are you here?" he asked.

"Can I have a word with you?" she said, although she could predict his answer.

"Actually… I was just about to go to sleep. Can this wait until tomorrow?" Without waiting for her answer, he began to close the door.

"Wait!" Hermione said hurriedly. "Please, Ron?"

She saw the hesitation in his eyes, but he closed the door anyway.

"Tomorrow, alright?" she heard him say. This was not the Ron she thought she knew. There was no other choice than to draw her wild card. She hoped he would react to her statement like she expected him to. Otherwise she would have to follow through with her statement and that was the last thing she wanted to do…

"Ron, I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm moving back to my own place."

The silence that followed was excruciating. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. This was it… she inhaled deeply, and said with an uneven voice,

"I just wanted to say goodbye…"

She heard the rustling of parchment and a stumbling, but after a few seconds Ron opened the door again.

"What did you just say?" he asked her, his eyes big from what she guessed was surprise. "You want to… _leave_?"

"Well… yes?" It came out more as a question Herhthan a firm answer.

He pulled her in his room and shut the door.

"Are you mad? Are you… do you _want_ to put yourself in danger? I mean… Hermione come on! You can't go back there; he knows where you live!"

He was waving his hands in frustration. Hermione was getting frustrated herself too. So now he cared?

"So what? I just have to stay here and do nothing?" she huffed. "It's not like you're around much. I adore your mother, I really do; she is such a lovely woman. But I can't hide forever, can I? I don't want to be locked up anymore. Besides… I have my wand now, I can defend myself. That wasn't the case before." She sat down before realizing that she was sitting in his _bed_. So she jumped up again. Ron took it as a sign that she was leaving. He grabbed her arms to stop her. Hermione felt the electricity rushing through her body from the places that he was touching her. She hated that he still had this effect on her, even after all the time he had spent ignoring her.

"Hermione… please try to listen. I know you can look after yourself. You lifted those charms I put on my door. That wasn't your everyday magic. But I can't let you leave…"

"Why not?" she challenged him. If he really was tired of her, he could just as well say it. There had to be an explanation for his change in behavior.

He was surprised by her question. That was clear from his expression. But he didn't answer. He did let go of her arms.

"You're avoiding me. You're always working and when you're home, you lock yourself up. Was it something that I said? Did I do something wrong?"

Ron blinked a couple of times. But then he found his voice.

"No… not at all. I just… I thought you were busy with my mother. You seem to get along fine, and I guessed that you didn't need my company that much. So I started working on something…" He drew his wand and waved it towards his desk. A whole collection of papers and notes appeared, along with maps and pictures.

"What is all this?" she asked him.

"My own investigation," he admitted. "I want to find your father and bring him in. So you can pick up your life again."

Hermione looked at all the information that was spread over the wooden desk top. There were witness statements, the reports from her case, but also cases from many years ago, each and every single one involving her father in one way or another.

"It's so many… This must've taken you hours and hours to collect!" she gasped. Ron shrugged.

"That's why I spend most of my time in here. I was gathering as much information as I could. Since it's not an official case anymore, I had to work on it in my free time. I'm used to working with a team, and it has taken me longer to do all this because I have to work on my own."

Hermione felt guilty. Yet again she had come to the wrong conclusion. Here she was thinking that he was sick of her while in reality he was working on something to help her. But why?

"Ron… thank you. I really appreciate this. But, isn't this going to get you in trouble? I noticed that some of these are from classified cases, you can't bring those home with you."

He shrugged again. "I guess it's worth it," he answered. And then he mumbled something else, which she couldn't quite understand, but she thought she heard " _You're_ worth it." He had whispered it almost soundlessly, but she had heard it.

Hermione felt her cheeks burning.

"What did you say?" she asked.

Ron's ears turned red as well. "That it's worth it?"

She shook her head. "No… after that."

"N… Nothing," Ron stammered. "I just think that it's worth all this work. If I can bring your father in, you can move back to your own place like you want to and pick your life up again."

"I didn't mean that, you know. That I was going to leave…" she admitted shyly.

Ron perked his eyebrows up. "Then why did you say that?"

"I wanted to know if you grew tired of me. Since you shut yourself off, I had to say something that would get your attention. I figured if you didn't respond to that statement, it was a clear sign you didn't want me around anymore."

To her great surprise, he pulled her towards him and hugged her.

Through the pounding in her ears – courtesy of her heart bursting with excitement – she could hear him say, "You know, for a witch as clever as you claim to be, you can be really daft sometimes."

She looked up towards him, startled by the proximity of their faces.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, you silly thing, in case you haven't noticed it… but apparently, you haven't. Otherwise you wouldn't be saying all these stupid things like me getting tired of you…" Ron laughed. But then he became serious, and Hermione noticed that he became shy all of a sudden. It was really adorable and she felt herself turning into a puddle.

"Hermione…" he hesitated. "I did all of this because I really want to catch your father but also because… well… because I like you. As a matter of fact, I like you a lot."

Hermione was petrified. She couldn't believe what Ron just said. It seemed like he just admitted that he _liked_ her…? Clearly she had misunderstood him.

"You… you like me?" she whispered.

Ron immediately let go of her, and started to apologise. "I'm sorry, that was out of line. I… I don't know what came over me. You obviously don't feel that way about -"

But Ron couldn't finish his sentence, since Hermione had swung her arms around his neck and put her lips on his with such force, that Ron staggered backwards.

She let go of him after a minute, took a deep breath and said, "In case you haven't noticed, Auror Weasley… I like you as well."


	15. Chapter 15

**Three months… that's how long it took me to write this chapter.**

 **And what you are about to read, looks nothing like the first draft I wrote back in January.**

 **All the struggling, procrastinating and – to be honest – a lot of swearing made me promise myself never to write another fanfic again. I'll finish this story, but it will be my only one.**

 **I keep thinking it's not good enough, not witty enough or the plot isn't that original etc. Just me being insecure.**

 **But, after those three months I'm quite pleased with how this chapter has turned out. I hope writing the next one won't take as much time.**

 **I think that there are many readers that need to go back to the beginning of this story to refresh their memory because it's been so long since the last update, and for that I apologise.**

Since their kiss, Hermione was spending a lot more time in Ron's room. She helped him in his private investigation and filled in the blanks for some details. She told him about her father and what she knew about his activities with the other Death Eaters. Even if it wasn't a lot of new information for Ron, he let her continue, glad that she found something new to focus on.

Ron, of course, still had to go to work during the day. During those hours and when he was away on missions, Hermione continued the investigation. She tried to list all the locations her father could be hiding. If she would find something plausible, Ron could take their findings to Jollins and convince him to let him take his team to go check it out. But they hadn't come across anything interesting so far.

Hermione was trying to make the best of it, filling her days with the investigation and helping Molly in the kitchen or with some chores. The Weasley matriarch seemed to have difficulty keeping her house in order, even with the help of magic, so Hermione helped as much as she could. But as more and more time passed, she began to feel locked up. She knew the garden and the surrounding land by heart and since that first day she had never dared to cross the wards again. There were the occasional visits from George, Bill or Percy to break the daily routine, but their attention went to their parents and Hermione tried to give them privacy during those visits.

Ron wasn't a good distraction either. Even though they had kissed and confessed their feelings for each other, she didn't dare to kiss him in front of his parents. She did try to steal kisses when they were at work in his room, but he was always the one to stop them when she got carried away. She tried really hard not to overthink that and jump to conclusions like she usually did.

To distract herself, she wanted to ask Ron if she could go outside of the wards. She was armed now, for Merlin's sake, but she knew he wouldn't want to hear any of it. There was a small chance that she could convince Molly that it wasn't that dangerous anymore and that she could help getting groceries from the village that way. Maybe he would listen to her if his mother was on her side, so she decided that she would bring it up at dinner that evening. She knew his father would be absent the next couple of days on work related matters, so Ron would be home on time for a change.

Of course Ron reacted exactly like she predicted and started to make a fuss about it.

"You know why that's not an option, Hermione," he began. He filled his plate again for seconds, a sign that this discussion was over for him.

"I think Ron has a point, dear. It's safer for you to stay at the Burrow for now," his mother chimed in, patting her hand. Well, there goes her support, she thought.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "I've been here for weeks now. I'm not a defenceless child. I have my wand to defend myself. Ron, you know damn well that I can use it!"

"I know you're a skilled witch, but performing spells correctly and taking part in a duel are two entirely different things. When you find yourself in a dangerous situation everything changes. You're not trained for it."

"But you are," she pointed at him, "so you can teach me."

He stopped his movement halfway, keeping his fork dangling in front of his mouth. After a couple of seconds he put it back on his plate.

"Oh, no no no. I know what you're thinking. No! You're not going to the Ministry with me."

"I haven't even said anything!" Hermione gasped.

"No, but you were thinking it."

"Who said I was?"

"I do."

"Oh, and since when do you know what I think huh? Last time I checked, legilimency was not one of your fortes."

Hermione started to lean over the table, and so did Ron.

"You forget that I'm the Auror around here, it's my job to know these things."

"Oh, so I'm suddenly just a job for you now?" She started to lose her patience completely. How dare he think of her like that?

"That's not what I was saying!" Ron growled in frustration. "You always do that! Stop twisting my words!"

"ENOUGH!" someone cried, before Hermione could reply.

They both looked at Molly, who was no longer sitting at the head of the table but standing straight up, albeit a bit unsteady. "Stop bickering. It's not going to help any…" She stopped mid-sentence and started swaying a little.

Ron jumped up and hurried towards his mother, steadying her.

"Are you alright, Molly? Can I get you anything?" Hermione asked.

"Oh stop it, both of you," Molly said pushing Ron away. "I'm fine. Just a bit tired, is all. I need to learn that I'm not 24 anymore. I probably overdid myself a bit today. Maybe it's better if I go and lie down."

Ron helped his mum up, and despite her protests, went to assist her on the stairs.

In the meantime, Hermione cleared the table and started on the dishes. When Ron returned downstairs, she was almost done.

"Will she be alright?" she asked him. He nodded in return.

"It's like she said, she needs to lighten up on her workload." Ron frowned. "There are spells for that you know," he said while pointing to the sink.

Hermione smiled. "Sorry, force of habit. It keeps my mind and my hands busy."

Ron smiled as well, grabbed the tea towel and started drying.

The next day, Molly stayed in bed. She was too tired to get up and didn't feel too well. Ron was reluctant to leave for work, especially since his father wasn't home, but he knew that Hermione would take care of her.

"Let me know if anything changes alright? You can use Pig; he's fast enough. I suppose you could also Floo me, but I'm not always around so Pig is a better option. There are potions in the cabinet in the bathroom upstairs. Do you know your way around with them?"

Hermione frowned. "Not exactly. When I was living alone, I used muggle medicine. But I don't suppose you have any laying around?"

"No, we don't have those. Potions are far better than anything muggle-related. Just give her some Sleeping Draught around noon. Mom wrote the right dose on the bottle. There's also a Pain Potion and Pepper Up Potion if she gets a fever."

"I'll manage. Don't worry. I'll see you tonight?"

Ron grabbed his bag and went to the fireplace. "I'll try not to be late, and please just send Pig if there's anything." Then, with a flash of green flames, he was gone.

When Ron arrived at work, the first thing he noticed was Olson standing at a desk near his.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he snapped.

"Good morning, Weasley," Olson answered in a mocking tone. "How lovely to see you today."

"Quit it, Olson. I asked you something."

"Well well, aren't we friendly today. Tell me, Weasley. How's that gorgeous Miss Granger these days, huh?"

The distance between Ron and Olson was bridged in less than a second, and Ron grabbed him by the collar.

"Don't you _ever_ dare speak her name! If it was up to me, you wouldn't even be here right now," he hissed.

"Weasley!" Jollins' voice bellowed through the department.

Ron kept his eyes on Olson, who was grinning like a lunatic. Without unlocking his gaze, he answered, "Sir?"

"Get your hot-tempered ass in my office!"

He released his grip on Olson's shirt, ignored his complacent look and went into Jollins' office. But something was bothering him, did Olson know Hermione was staying with him? And if so, how the hell did he figure it out?

Jollins closed the door behind him.

"What were you thinking, Weasley?"

Ron sighed. "He provoked me, so I snapped."

"And you were not trained to remain calm in all sorts of situations? Did you skip that class?" Jollins sat down. "Look, I know he's a pain in the ass. Believe me, I'm with you on this. But he's here and I can do nothing about that."

Before Ron could question him further, Jollins added, "Yes, Weasley. I tried."

"Is that why you called for me, sir?"

"No, Weasley. I called you because I wanted to ask you if there was something you would like to tell me? Perhaps something you're working on that I don't know about?"

Ron felt his neck and ears go warm. He had to be careful with his answer.

"I don't think there's anything I wanted to let you know, sir. What made you ask?"

"I don't know, perhaps missing case files, all having some connection to Rookwood? Hermione Granger staying at your parents' house? Pick one."

Fuck.

Jollins sighed. "I know you didn't agree with closing the Granger case and being pulled off the pursuit of Rookwood, but starting your own investigation? At least be subtle about it and copy the case files instead of taking them home with you."

Hermione would have a field day if she'd known. She warned him about this.

"I wasn't aware that there was another investigation running on Rookwood. I figured no one would notice old case files missing."

"Olson reported it just this morning. He's working desk duty in the archives and noticed the files were missing. You bring them back by tonight and you'll give me an update on anything you've found."

That little slime ball. So that's why he was here. What was he up to?

"It's true, isn't it? Hermione Granger is staying with you?"

Ron nodded reluctantly. She was no longer under investigation so they couldn't forbid it. But it would prevent him from getting her case if it was ever being reopened.

"What's the matter with you, Weasley? You had a clean record, always followed the rules, solving every single case I gave you. And now you're stealing case files and giving shelter to witnesses?" Jollins looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Is she really worth it?"

Ron should've known he would figure it out. He was Head Auror for a reason.

"I don't know what to say to that, sir. I really don't. But yes, I do think she's worth it. She knows things about her father and his actions that aren't mentioned in the case files. She is a reliable source. It's too dangerous for her to return to her own home, so I brought her to mine. I thought she would be well hidden there, but clearly that is not the case anymore. How did you find out?"

If Hermione crossed the wards again, even though she knew it was dangerous and she was seen, he had to go home immediately.

"Relax, Weasley. I have known she's been staying with you for some time now. Like I said, you're not that subtle when it comes to her. I sent a Junior Auror to Ottery St Catchpole to keep an eye out, so you owe me one. He reports directly to me. If there is something out of place or he sees someone that shouldn't be there, we'll know."

That changes things, Ron thought. Maybe he could let her go into the village after all. He would talk with her tonight. It would make her happy and that's what mattered. 'I'm turning into such a wuss,' he mumbled softly.

"You're welcome, by the way," Jollins interrupted his thoughts.

"Sorry, sir. I really do appreciate this gesture."

"You're one of the best, if not the best we've got. I'm not doing this for everyone. Here, your next case. Nothing spectacular, some minor smuggling. You should take a look at it. Maybe you can let Ryan Holden assist you with it, let him gain some experience." Jollins handed him the case file.

"I'm on it, sir," Ron answered and returned to his desk. Holden was a Junior Auror fresh out of the academy. He was a decent guy, eager to learn and Ron looked forward to teaching him a thing or two.

While looking over the documents, a familiar sound caught his attention. His head snapped up and he saw Pig fluttering towards him, energetic as always.

As quickly as he could, he untied the piece of paper and read the letter Hermione had send.

" _Ron, your mother has gotten a fever but there is no Pepper Up potion left. She says she used it just last week and forgot to replace it. I already tried to Floo one of your brothers but no one is answering. What should I do? Hermione._ "

She used it last week? This means she was feeling off for some time now. He should've noticed it. Hermione was distracting him, not that he minded that much but he should not have let that keep him from noticing his mum was having issues.

"Auror Weasley? I've been sent to assist you," he heard someone say.

Ron looked up and saw Junior Auror Holden standing next to his desk. He ran his hand through his hair, clutching Hermione's letter in the other.

"Right… yes. Yes, that is correct. I'm sorry but I have to make a Floo call first. In the meantime, you can look over these papers and be prepared to give me a summary when I return," he said while giving Holden the documents. Holden accepted them eagerly and starting rummaging through them.

Ron headed out of the office and walked towards the room with fireplaces for secured Floo calls.

Hermione answered immediately.

"How is she?" he asked.

"She's asleep now, I gave her the Sleeping Draught like you asked. But she's not really getting better, and she has a temperature. I tried calling Bill and Percy, but neither of them answered. I wasn't sure if I should try George," Hermione said.

"No, that's fine. Look, I can't come home right now but there is a Potions Master in the village. It's between the bakery and the post office on the main street, you can't miss it. It works like the entrance of Diagon Alley, so you could pass the barrier since you're magical. Just make sure no one sees you going through a wall."

"Wait… do you mean… I can go outside the wards?" Hermione gasped.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. There is an Auror present who keeps an eye out. I didn't know about this before, I swear. This changes everything. I think it's safe enough for you to go to the village, but only to get the potion, okay? You pick it up and go straight back. I'll go back tonight and pay for it. We know the owner so he won't make a big deal out of it. Don't forget your wand."

"Okay, I'll go straight away." He noticed that Hermione could barely contain her excitement. It made him happy seeing her this excited.

He thought he heard someone at the door, but when he checked there was no one there.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked when he returned.

"I thought I heard something, but it was nothing. Look, I'll send Pig back to you. Let me know the moment you're back at the Burrow okay?"

"Don't worry, Ron. I'll send you a Patronus; how does that sound?"

"No, don't do that. Everyone can hear the message, just send Pig. He doesn't mind."

After the call, Ron went to the cafeteria to get lunch. Hermione would take about an hour to pick up the potion since it was a long walk from the Burrow to the village. Lunch would keep his mind busy and when he would return Holden would be finished with his summary.

When he got back to the department, Holden was still sitting at his desk just like he expected. Ron patted his shoulder. "Hey, don't forget to eat alright?"

Holden jumped up. "Easy there, mate. You can never let your guard down, even if you're just bowed over paperwork," Ron laughed.

"Sorry, sir. I was working on the summary like you asked me too and got a little absorbed I guess," Holden apologized. "Oh, that reminds me. Head Auror Jollins is looking for you, sir, and Auror Brown has arrived for you."

Ron looked towards Jollins' office and noticed someone in there with him. The face looked familiar, and he was definitely an Auror since he was wearing Auror robes. "Who is Auror Brown again?"

"That's the Auror you wanted me to recall, sir," Holden explained.

"I didn't call for anyone, what do you mean?"

"But… someone gave me a message from you, asking me to recall Auror Brown. You wanted to talk to him, it was very urgent. So I went to Head Auror Jollins and he called him back in. I thought it had something to do with your Floo call."

Ron slowly began to connect the dots and he started to worry more and more with each passing second.

"Ryan… who gave you the note?"

"That guy who works in the Archive Department. He was in here this morning. I don't know his name, I'm sorry," Holden answered.

Ron sprinted towards Jollins' office and pushed open the door.

"Weasley, glad you could join us, this is - " Jollins began but Ron interrupted him immediately.

"Are you the Auror who was supposed to watch Ottery St Catchpole?" Ron asked Auror Brown. Please don't let it be him, he thought. Not now, not today.

"Yes, sir. That's me. You wanted to talk to me?" Auror Brown stood up to shake Ron's hand but Ron turned towards Jollins.

"Sir, I never asked Ryan to recall Auror Brown. I didn't even know it was him who was watching my hometown! And I would never ask Olson to do something for me."

"Alright, here's what we will do. You take Auror Brown and go back to your village and search it so you'll know it's secure. I'll go downstairs to the Archive Department and find Olson," Jollins instructed. "They may protect him, but that doesn't mean I can't give him a hard time."

Ron and Auror Brown returned to the Department to gather their things.

At that moment Auror Johnson bolted into the room, straight into Jollins' office. "Sir, I just received a warning from one of our Caterwauling Charms," he panted.

"Which one?" Jollins asked.

"Rookwood, sir."

"Weasley! Get back here!" Jollins yelled.

When Ron entered the office, Jollins asked Johnson, "Where was it that the charm went off?"

"In Ottery St Catchpole, sir."

 **Wait. Did she really do that? She really ended this chapter with a cliff hanger?**

 **Yes. Yes she did.**

 **I'm sorry** **J**

 **Hopefully Hermione is okay!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A long wait for this - rather short - chapter, and I apologise for that.**

 **But, life just happens and I couldn't find the time and I wasn't in the right mind to write this thing out. I had this idea for another story in another fandom and I worked on that to have something different to work on. And it worked, I wrote this chapter yesterday and I already have the main things written down for the remaining chapters. So I promise you won't have to wait this long again for the ending of this story.**

 **A big thank you to my beta-reader ObsessedRHShipper, have a really nice vacation!**

 **This chapter is more of a filler chapter, to get to one of the main events of this story next time!**

It was quiet when Ron and Auror Brown arrived at Ottery St Catchpole.

They had left the Auror Department in a hurry, all too eager to come down here and start looking for Rookwood and, if needed, Hermione.

Come to think of it, he probably should've gone to the Burrow first to check if Hermione was there. Then he wouldn't have to worry about her safety. Now he didn't know where she was or if she was okay. But time was of the essence right now and if Rookwood was in the village, then Hermione wasn't his first priority. Rookwood was on the run for far too long, they got a chance now to end this once and for all and he was damn sure to take it this time.

He signaled towards Brown to follow him. Brown raised an eyebrow at this, since the normal procedure for sweeping a location was to split up and work towards one another. Ron noticed and whispered, "Stay with me, Brown. Rookwood is too strong to take on your own. As long as the enforcements aren't here, we stay together."

Brown nodded and with their wands drawn, but still hidden from plain sight – they were in a muggle village after all – they went on their way.

It was late in the afternoon, it was cloudy and it looked like it could start to rain any minute, so most of the villagers were in their homes, which made it easier for them to look around. When they arrived at the location where the potions master was, Ron was tempted to go in and ask when Hermione had left.

But Brown tapped his shoulder and pointed at the beginning of a dirt road at the end of the street.

"Look!" Brown said, squinting his eyes. "Isn't that Olson talking to… to… Is that Hermione?"

Ron's blood run cold but his face went flaming hot from anger seeing Olson within reach.

Brown was right. There she was, perfectly fine, talking to that scumbag. What the hell was going on?

"We should try to get closer," Ron hissed. They cast a Disillusionment Charm. He could just walk towards them and stupefy the living shit out of Olson, but he wanted to know what they were talking about. Besides, they hadn't seen Rookwood yet. Maybe they were waiting for him and if that was the case he would blow everything up by revealing their presence.

No, Ron shook his head. Hermione wasn't in on this. She couldn't. But why did she let Olson get so close to her? Last time he did that, she had thrown him to the other side of the room. Was it all an act?

He found it really hard to think of Hermione like that, but he had to put his own feelings aside for now.

They paused at the other side of the road, leaving the street as a barrier between them and their suspects. There were some convenient bushes and growing trees they could hide out. Just in time actually, because when they arrived he felt the familiar feeling of the charm wearing off. It gave him chills every time, like someone went with a feather over his spine.

Olson and Hermione were standing uncomfortably close to each other, though Hermione didn't give much of a response to Olson's actions. She didn't flinch when he was just inches away. It was only when Olson started walking in a circle around her that he noticed his wand moving.

Ron couldn't help feeling relieved. Olson must have used the Imperius curse on her, he was mumbling something and a sly smile crept on his face. He was ashamed to even think for one moment that Hermione would work together with her father. They couldn't hear what Olson was whispering but they were close enough to take action if things would escalate. It pained him to see Hermione like that, but he had to wait for Rookwood. He had to.

He didn't have to wait long. Rookwood appeared with a crack, just a couple of feet away from Olson and Hermione. He had been here before, otherwise the Caterwauling charm wouldn't set off. What did he miss? Where did he go?

Rookwood smiled when he noticed Hermione. He grabbed hold of Hermione's arm.

"Good job, Olson," he grinned. "No sign of her guard dog?"

Olson shook his head. That seemed to please Rookwood, his evil grin became more pronounced.

"It won't take long for this town to be overflowing with Aurors. We should be going," Olson said while scanning the street. His eyes went over the bushes, but didn't linger enough to notice the two Aurors.

Ron's thoughts were racing, if he could overpower them now, he would have them both in custody. But he didn't know Brown that well, never had fought along his side so he didn't know what he could expect from him. That was a risk he wasn't willing to take with Hermione. Olson kept moving the whole time, he couldn't get a clear shot in him. His own team wasn't here yet and that bothered him immensely.

"What's the plan?" Brown asked him.

"No plan. We'll wait for the others," Ron answered.

"With all due respect, Weasley, but I think you're letting your personal feelings take the upper hand. If that wasn't Hermione out there, but someone else, you would take the shot without a second thought. I know your reputation. It's a matter of minutes, maybe seconds even, and then they'll be gone. They won't wait for you to show up and save the day. So we're going out there, stun them both and we're done with it," Brown hissed. Ron looked at him. He was right, he was making this personal. Ron started to like this guy, clearly he wasn't afraid to speak his mind.

"You got a point there, mate. Alright, on my signal we move and stun them. You take Olson, I'll take Rookwood."

Brown nodded, satisfied that he's finally getting some action after all the stakeouts.

Ron held his hand up and took a deep breath before he turned around, looked at Brown to make sure he was ready and gave the signal.

They both rushed forward, wands raised and ready to stun both men. Rookwood and Olson were still standing at the exact same spot they were before, Hermione motionless in between them. Olson immediately took Hermione and used her as his shield.

Rookwood started grinning, gripped Hermione's arm even harder, while Olson still got a hold of her.

"Now!" Ron growled. "Stupefy!" Two red beams hurled down the street, but before they could hit their target, Rookwood and Olson disapparated, taking Hermione with them.

"NO!" Ron screamed, followed by a string of very colourful curses. They ran to the dirt road, even though it wouldn't make any difference.

"Fuck!" he shouted again, going through his hair and messing it up in the process.

"Back to the ministry?" Brown suggested. Ron looked up at him, his eyes full of anger. He knew it was his own fault, if he didn't hesitated because of Hermione, it would all be over by now. But no, he had to be soft. He had let his own personal feelings come first. That was never a problem before. And now he had to pay the price.

Back to the ministry… for what? They couldn't do much there either. They were looking for Rookwood for years now without a result. Until now. And he blew it, for Merlin's sake. Wait…

"No. We're not going to the ministry. Come on," he picked up his pace and starting running down the dirt road. Brown quickly followed him.

"Where are we going?" he shouted.

"Burrow," Ron answered.

"You did all this?" Brown whistled as he saw all the notes, maps and stuff lying around on in his room.

"Me and Hermione. A joint investigation, if you will. Help me search for a list with locations," Ron said while starting to look through all the papers himself.

"Hermione made a list of all the places she thought her father could be hiding. It's not much, but it's a start. I'll visit them one by one if I have to."

Brown was the one who found the piece of paper. Hermione had listed four possible hideouts. Ron stared at the list, trying to figure out what the best first choice would be. She had written it in order of probability, but Ron didn't agree with it, the location she thought was the least possible Ron thought to be the most probable.

"That's it!" Ron exclaimed. "Brown, you stay here. Alert Jollins and my team and brief them on what happened. Tell them to go to this location," he pointed at the paper. "Jollins knows where it is, he'll give you the right directions. You can use the Floo downstairs to make the call."

"What about you?" Brown asked.

"I'm heading there right now. This can't wait, Brown. I have to go," Ron pleaded.

Ron ran out the room and went to check on his mum. She was still asleep, courtesy of the Dreamless Sleep Potion, and wouldn't wake for a couple of hours. He hesitated for a moment but then decided to send a Patronus to his brother Bill to notify him that he was away on a mission. Bill would come and check on his mom - one less thing he would have to worry about.

Next, Hermione. He had a feeling she would be at the location he had in mind. She'd better be, he thought, trying to shake the image of Olson's attack on her all those weeks ago. He gripped his wand really tight and turned on the spot, hoping he was not too late.


End file.
